Loved by a Dragon (No Such Thing as Dragons Book 3) by Lauren Lively (6)

I cried out, reaching for something to grab onto but finding nothing so I settled for digging my nails into his back. This seemed to only fuel him further and he used one hand to ease my thighs apart so he had better access to my core. His tongue continued its skilled movements until I felt the pressure building through me and I pushed him back.

"Get undressed," I said, my voice smoky with desire.

As Ero complied with my request, I eased myself onto my knees so that when he was completely bare I could touch my body to his and finally feel all of his skin against mine. We both drew in breaths as our skin touched and our bodies became still, both trying to preserve the moment for what it was. Finally he rested his forehead against mine and his eyes drifted closed. He kissed me gently and rested his hands on my hips.

"Please let me make love to you," he whispered.

My body clench and any reservations I had crumbled around me as I wrapped my hands around his neck and carefully lowered myself onto my back and let him part my thighs so he could settle in between them. The tip of his erection settled at my opening and he moaned when he felt how ready I was for him. I bent my knees so my legs drew up beside his waist, causing him to slip inside me slightly. I gasped. He had been inside me before, but I hadn't had the opportunity to really cherish feeling him enter me, and now I was welcoming him, allowing him to gradually move deeper into me until finally I enveloped all of his hard, thick length.

Ero withdrew slowly and then sank in again, eliciting a deep groan from his chest that made a new wave of desire roll through me. I lifted my hips slightly and he plunged into me harder. He maintained his control for several minutes, rolling his hips so that he thrust in long, slow strokes that seemed to massage me and nurture me toward the edge. I reached up and touched his face, and Ero turned to kiss the inside of my wrist.

I could feel the tension building through my body and I ached for release. I gripped his head and pulled his down so that he kissed me, catching himself with his hands on either side of him. Lifting my hips higher in the air, I nudged him and bit his bottom lip.

"Please, Ero," I whimpered.

He understood my plea and started pounding into me with such intensity that I cried out with each thrust and within seconds, my body was contracting around him in a series of hard, blissful tremors. He gave a deep grunt and I felt him pulse inside me as his streams met each of my spasms.

Ero fell forward onto me and we were suddenly back in the same position we had been in the forest. He kissed my neck softly and I ran my hand down his sweaty back. This time I had no compulsion to get up and run away from him. I wanted to lie there with him forever.

"I don't want to go to my house tonight," I whispered to him.

He nuzzled closer to me.

"I'll be there," he whispered back.

"You will?"

"Samira took the house that had been set aside for you."

"She did?"

Ero pulled himself up so that he could look at me and I smiled at him, fulfilled and enthralled by the orange of his eyes and the rise and fall of his chest.

"I thought it only appropriate considering you don't need it anymore."

"I don't?"

"No. We're bonded for life now and if I can help it, you won't be out of arms reach except when I'm on patrol, which means you will be coming home with me."

I smiled and lifted my head to kiss him. I knew that I was never going to live on Earth again. I would keep my house there, just in case Ero and I wanted to go on an interplanetary honeymoon. Maybe I would take my Denynso students, whoever they turned out to be, on field trips now that my mate had proven that their kind could successfully travel through space. I was his now, completely and fully his, and wherever he was, I knew that that’s was where I would be.

(To be Continued in Part IX… )

Book 9 – Smitten by Sweetest Alien

Chapter One

Dear Diary,

I still can't believe this is actually happening. One minute I was hiding at Zuri's house trying to decide what I was going to do next and being terrified that at any minute my evil son of a bitch of a stepfather was going to show up and kill me, and the next minute I was following Zuri and some warrior who is apparently in love with her to the university space shuttle to head to Uoria. I still can't believe how easily Ero made him go away.

I just re-read that sentence. I can't believe I am still not brave enough to even write his name. I am literally on another planet, nowhere near anywhere where he would be able to get near me, and I still can't bring myself to write it. Maybe one day I will get over everything that he has put me through since my idiot of a mother decided to marry him. I will never understand that.

What am I doing here? It seemed like a fantastic idea at the time when Zuri and Ero suggested that I come along with them when they returned to Uoria. Anything to get out of his line of fire for when he finally got over the shock of Ero scaring the living hell out of him. That and I really didn't have anywhere else to go and wasn't sure where I was going to live or what I was going to do for those little life details like food. Coming here was a way for me to stay with Zuri, who is the only person in the entire world that I trust, know that I will have somewhere to live and stay safe while I figure out what the hell I am going to do with my future, and use some of my chemistry and biology knowledge to actually do something good rather than just filling out tests.

I have only been on Uoria for a couple of hours and I am still so overwhelmed by everything that is going on. I thought that I would be spending time with Zuri, maybe getting a chance to talk to her about everything that had been going on with me in the last few weeks. As soon as we got here, though, Ero whisked her away somewhere and I got handed over to the human women and to a man named Ty. I was happy to see Leia, even though we don't know each other terribly well. To be honest, though, I was happier to see Ty. I wouldn't say this to anybody but you, but he is the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my entire life. He is huge beyond description and so gorgeous I couldn't even talk to him for the first few minutes. From what I understand, he is my own personal protector for while I'm here. That could make this experience much more pleasant.

I'm going to try to get some sleep. They gave me my own house to live in while I'm here, which is a major change from what I'm used to. There won't be anyone to bother me or to tell me what to do. Or to do anything else to me. Maybe I'll get lonely at some point, but for now this is all just too incredible for me to get my mind around. I might only have six months here before our exchange period ends and we have to go back to Earth, but I'm not going to think about that. I am going to take advantage of every moment that I have and deal with whatever is ahead of me when it comes.

Samira

I finished my diary entry and tucked the notebook under my pillow. I know it is a completely outdated form of recordkeeping, but I had always found comfort in being able to actually write down my thoughts. I never read back through the stacks of notebooks I had accumulated throughout my eighteen years, but I figured that if I ever wanted to relive any of those moments, at least they would be there. On my darker days I figured that if my stepfather ever got his hands on me and I wasn't able to get away, at least the people who found me would have my journals to follow what had happened to me in the last several years of my life.

The house that the Denynso had put aside for me was small but comfortable and I settled back on the bed. It had taken some convincing for the human women to actually leave me alone in the house rather than staying with me and helping me get settled in. I didn't want to be rude to them, but the last thing I wanted that night was to sit around and regale them with the stories of what led up to coming with Zuri. For now I was more than happy to let them believe that I was just another exchange student who had joined the program for people of Earth to come to Uoria and exchange knowledge, ideas, and cultural traditions. Unless I had the chance to spend time with Zuri, I would rather be alone. Well, Zuri or Ty.

As soon as I saw Ty, I knew that I wanted to spend more time with him. He didn't have the gruff, aggressive feeling that the other men did and I found myself wondering if he was a warrior like Pyra and Gyyx, the Denynso mates of Eden and Leia, or if he was something else like Ciyrs, the mate of Eliana. The three human women seemed so happy with their Denynso men, and I found myself curious about the quiet, calm man entrusted with guiding me to my house and who said he would be my guide and protector while I was on Uoria. I wanted to know more about him, to find out what lurked behind those eyes and gave him an energy and presence that made me feel almost safe and comfortable near him.

Chapter Two

"What the hell is wrong with me?" Ty asked, pouring a few more ingredients into the huge bowl in front of him and going at it with a spoon with such intensity Pyra took a step back.

"What do you mean?" the enormous warrior asked.

Ty paused his assault of the cake batter and looked at Pyra.

"If you haven't noticed, my apron has a bit of a tent situation going on here and I haven't been able to think straight since last night."

Pyra glanced down at the front of Ty's apron and saw exactly what he was talking about. Though better concealed with the thick white apron hanging over him than it would have been if he was just standing there in the soft tie-front pants that were the usual wardrobe of the Denynso men, it was still pretty obvious that he had a raging hard-on. The baker shifted slightly and Pyra looked up at him with a knowing grin.

"Yeah, I've noticed. Why are you even asking? You watched me go through it months ago, then Ciyrs, then Gyxx, and now Ero. It seems that the efforts to communicate and cooperate more effectively with Earth have had a much different impact than we originally anticipated. These human women get here and the Denynso men start dropping like flies. It looks like you are the one that came under the line of fire this time."

He reached out and dipped a finger in the bowl of batter and Ty pulled it away from him roughly. Even though he was baking a cake specifically for Pyra to bring to his mate Eden, who happened to be a couple of months into her first pregnancy and constantly in the throes of either a dramatic emotional situation or a craving, Ty didn't like when Pyra stuck his fingers in the batter. Not only did it just seem pretty unsanitary, his perfectionist ways made Ty feel like it threw off the entire balance and measurement of the batter so the cake wouldn't turn out exactly as he had wanted it to when he first started baking it. In the back of his mind he knew that that was being a little bit ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. Just like the warriors couldn't shake off their compulsion to fight and protect, Ty couldn't fight off his compulsion to create and perfect.

"That can't possibly be it," Ty said, adding a few drops of dark brown liquid from a bottle he kept on the top shelf of his spice cabinet.

"Why not? I was there when Zuri got back with that new girl. Anyone with eyes can see that she's beautiful."

"Samira."

"What?" Pyra asked, running the tip of one of his fingers through a mound of sweet powder on the counter and licking it off.

"The new girl. Her name is Samira."

"Uh-huh. I guess your big old orange eyes definitely noticed that she's beautiful."

"My eyes aren't orange!" Ty protested, then picked up a cookie sheet so he could see his reflection. Sure enough, there were streaks of orange through the usual brown of his eyes. "Shit."

"Yep. They might not have made their complete changeover yet, but those eyes cannot deceive. They know that your mate has shown up, and unless you are preparing yourself to fight Ero for Zuri or you are going to break into the space shuttle and try to pry out that little flight attendant who always runs and hides the minute that the ship lands, that means that your mate is Samira."

"She can't be."

"I don't get it. Why are you so pissed about your mate showing up? You have the whole nurturing and taking care of someone thing down pat. You've been taking care of all of us warriors for as long as I can remember. And you are plenty old enough to get mated."

Ty groaned and started distributing the batter into three hexagonal pans he had placed in a row in the middle of the counter.

"That's the problem right there. I am plenty old enough, but is she? Did you see her? She looks barely old enough to be out of her mother's house much less in somebody's bed. I just don't feel right looking at her the way that I obviously look at her when she is so young."

"She's old enough to be Zuri's student, which means that she is old enough to be in college. I don't think that Zuri would have brought her here if she wasn't an adult, but if it makes you feel any better, I can ask Eden how old she is exactly."

"How would she know that?"

"They are human women. They tell each other everything. It's a little disturbing actually. I think that she had told the other girls far more than I would ever want any of them to know about me because last time I was in the room with all of them, they all seemed to be far too focused on the front of my pants. And since I am no longer in the fun pre-mating phase that you are currently finding yourself enjoying, there would be nothing to draw their attention there unless they were trying to confirm a story that they heard."

Ty laughed, feeling better now that he at least had Pyra to commiserate with him a little bit. It wasn't exactly the same thing, but they had both found themselves at the mercy of the confounding and sometimes irresistible human women who had started infiltrating their planet.

As he slipped the cakes into the oven, Ty found his mind wandering back to Samira. The second she stepped off of the shuttle from the university the night before, he was enraptured. This was something he had never felt before. While some of the warriors were known for having as many female conquests as they did battle victories, Ty had never been that kind of man. He had thought he had feelings for a couple of the females of the tribe a few times before, but even when they had sex no bonding ever occurred. Now that he had seen Samira, he realized that those feelings were nothing and that he was truly screwed. If Pyra was right, and truth be told, Pyra was almost always right, especially when it came to things that he had experienced himself, there was nothing that Ty could do about his newfound attraction to Samira. If the constant erection wasn't enough to tell him, the hint of orange in his eyes was unmistakable.

Samira was his mate and would be the only one for him for the rest of his life. He would just have to decide if he could deal with it or if he was going to let her age keep him from pursuing her and risk living the rest of his existence alone and longing for her. It was not a decision that he wanted to make.

Chapter Three

When I woke up the morning after arriving on Uoria, I had a few disorienting moments when I had no idea where I was. In the first few seconds after I woke up but before I opened my eyes I thought that I might still be at Zuri's house, and then I had a moment of panic thinking that I was back at my mother's house and that the pounding I heard was my stepfather knocking on the door trying to get into my bedroom. My eyes snapped open and I saw the unfamiliar room around me and I was briefly terrified. Finally I regained my senses and remembered that I was in Uoria in my own little house, and that I was, for once, safe.

After just a few seconds of feeling calm and in control again, however, I heard the loud pounding and again became afraid. I sat up in the bed and pulled the covers up around me, pulling my knees to my chest like I always did when I felt scared. It was a protective position that made me feel like I was retracting into my shell. Too many memories of nights spent just like that in my bed at home, or in the corner of my bedroom, or even, on particularly horrible nights, curled in the closet just like that so that I could try to guard myself as much as I could.

"Samira?"

I heard my name added to the pounding and instantly recognized the voice as belonging to Ty. He was standing at the front door to my house, knocking insistently on the door and calling me. When I listened to his voice, however, I realized that it was not anger or frustration, but genuine concern and worry for me that was causing him to call out to me so loudly. I gathered my blankets close around me and hurried across the house to the door.

"Yes?" I said, pulling the door open and stepping behind it as much as I could to conceal myself while still being able to look at him.

I could see Ty's eyes scanning what of my body he could see and then snap up to mine, a look that somehow combined intrigue and shame crossing his face. He was even more gorgeous now that I was looking at him in daylight. Rather than the Mohawk style I had seen among most of the other men, Ty wore his stark white hair down and loose except for a braid down the center of his head that reached to the base of his neck. I am not a small woman, yet he towered over me, making me feel small and delicate. This was something I had never felt, and I loved it. I wanted to explore more of it, to see just how powerful he was and how well he knew how to use that power.

"Ty?" I said, realizing that he hadn't said anything since I opened the door.

He shook his head hard like he was trying to bring his thoughts back into reality and gestured behind him.

"The king and queen want you to come to meet them and to have breakfast in the meeting hall. Usually human visitors have to report to them first, but since you were a bit of a surprise, they weren't in the hall last night when you arrived and said that it was fine to have your greeting this morning."

I was confused by the formality of it, and by being described as a "surprise".

"I thought that Zuri told everyone that I was coming."

"She did, but we didn’t get the communication until right before your arrival. Ero sent the message when he arranged transport back here, but the transportation officials didn't let us know until the day before you got here. "

"I don't understand. If they didn't tell everybody that I was coming, how did they have a house ready for me and how did they choose you as my guard?"

A bit of panic was starting to build in my chest. It was that feeling of being out of place and unwanted. I didn't want to be an imposition to anyone and my mind was suddenly reeling with plans for how I was going to get myself back to Earth now that the shuttle was already preparing to leave and there was no way I would be able to get back on it before take-off.

"You aren't an imposition," Ty said and then suddenly looked shocked.

I looked at him, stunned. He had just responded to what I was thinking, using my exact words to comfort me.

"How did you know that I was thinking that?"

He stuttered for a few seconds like he was trying to come up with words to explain what had just happened, and then I noticed his eyes had dropped again. Without realizing it, I had stepped out from behind the door and was standing fully in front of him. My blankets had slipped down slightly and he could plainly see that I sleep naked with the top of the blanket barely covering my nipples and the two sides wrapped around me closed just beneath the apex of my thighs. His eyes lifted to mine and felt my breath deepen slightly. I had known this man for just a few hours, but in that moment all I wanted was for him to touch me. The feeling was overwhelming, deep and intense like it was something that had always been in me but that I was just discovering.

Instead of fulfilling that wish, however, Ty turned his eyes away from me and cleared his throat softly. I gathered my blankets closer around me reluctantly and stepped backwards into the house.

"Do you want to come in while I get dressed?"

He shook his head.

"I'll just wait here."

Feeling slightly hurt, I closed the door and went back to my bedroom to get dressed. I wasn't sure what to wear. He had mentioned the king and queen, but I knew from Zuri that they weren't like the kings and queens you hear about from history classes at Earth. She described them as kind and approachable, people who associated with the rest of the tribe that they ruled with compassion, affection, and respect. Still, they were the monarchs and I didn't want to offend them with my clothing. I wished Zuri were there to help me.

Suddenly I felt like I heard Ty's voice in my head telling me that I would look beautiful in anything. It sent a shiver down my spine and brought a flutter to my belly. Smiling to myself for reasons that I didn't fully understand at the time, I draped my blankets back over my bed and dressed.

Chapter Four

Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit.

Ty sighed and sagged back against the door to Samira's house. How could he be so stupid? Tuning into the thoughts of another person was extremely intimate, which is why it was something that only mates, with a few very specific exceptions, shared. It was part of the bond that occurred between the men of his kind and their women, and it allowed them to stay fully connected. This could be very helpful when they needed to find each other, when one needed the help of the other, or they wanted to express something private to each other without anyone else hearing it.

The fact that he could already connect with Samira was startling to say the least, considering they had never even touched each other much less bonded. Now he had been dumb enough to not only listen to her thoughts, but reply to her both speaking to her and sending his own thoughts to her. He knew he was probably scaring the hell out of her, or at the very least making her think that she was crazy. He hadn't even decided yet what he was going to do about these intense feelings he was experiencing for the stunning but so young woman that was now dressing in the house behind him. This was not a good time to start toying with her by listening to her thoughts and sending her his without her understanding what was going on.

He had been chastising himself for a few minutes when he felt the door give way behind him and fell back. Samira let out a scream and he turned as he fell so that he came down on his hands rather than on his back. His fall had caused her to fall and land on her back, which meant that he landed over her, his hands on either side of her and his face level with hers. They lay there for a few tense seconds, staring at each other. Their breaths came out ragged, mingling between them and surrounding them with a sound that only partially concealed the pounding of their heartbeats.

Ty could see something flicker in her eyes. It looked like desire and when she licked her lips, he almost lost the control he had been struggling so hard to maintain around her. She was even more startlingly beautiful when he was this close to her, but she still looked so young. He felt like he would be taking advantage of her if he gave into his craving for her at that moment, and if he did that he would never be able to forgive himself.

She was not tiny like Eden, Eliana, or Leia, but taller like Zuri. The extra inches made it so that their bodies lined up perfectly and he had to move extremely carefully to get out of the position hovering over her so that she didn't feel his raging cock pressing down on her. It was like it had a mind of its own, straining against his pants as it tried to get to her, just knowing that hers was the body it was made for.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, climbing backwards and standing up.

He wanted to reach down to help her up, but he worried about being able to maintain his self-control if he touched her in that moment. It was already taking everything that he had not to sweep her off of her feet and carry her back into the bedroom where he could spend the rest of the day bonding with her. He didn't want to test his capacity to withhold himself if he touched her skin, even just her hand, in that second.

"It's alright," she said, standing up and brushing herself off, "I'm sorry I didn't realize you were leaning against the door."

He looked at her fully and saw that she had put on a pair of tight black pants and a black shirt that hugged her curves and dipped low over her breasts, creating an enticing swell of cleavage. His mouth watered and he felt his heart start to pound. They needed to get out of her house as soon as possible.

A few minutes later they were walking through the compound toward the meeting hall. Ty noticed that she was able to keep up with him without struggle thanks to her long legs and a fast pace that made her breasts bounce and her long, thick hair sway across her back. Suddenly she turned to him.

"You never answered me when I asked how the house was ready for me if nobody knew I was coming until right before I got here."

"That house was originally intended for Zuri. It was the one chosen for her when she came here the first time for her teaching position, and when she left so suddenly it was just left there without anybody living in it. We assumed that whoever took her place as the new exchange program professor would end up moving into that house, but then we found out that Ero had gone after her and that she would be returning with him."

"So if that is the house that was supposed to be hers, where is she living now that she's back?"

Ty glanced at her strangely. He assumed the human girls would have filled her in on all of the gossip from the planet, especially the mating between Zuri and Ero considering she was Zuri's friend.

"She's with Ero. She's his mate, that's why he went after her."

"His mate?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"They didn’t tell you any of this?"

"Everything was kind of a whirlwind. I wasn't even expecting to see Zuri again for months. I had no idea that she had come home so quickly after leaving. I was staying in her house after an issue with my stepfather and she showed back up, and then the next morning Ero got there and it was all very fast after that. I didn't ask any questions."

He could see the hurt and fear in her eyes and felt the need to comfort her. Ty lifted an arm and rested it gently around her shoulders. He worried that she would pull away from him or be intimidated, but she didn’t. Instead, she seemed to relax a bit at his touch. She stepped a little bit closer to him so that her hip brushed his as they walked.

"May I ask what happened with your stepfather?"

He wasn't even sure what the term meant, but from the way she said it he could tell that whoever that man was, he had done something terrible to her. Samira must have noticed the hint of uncertainty in his voice because she glanced up at him with a smile.

"You don’t know what a stepfather is, do you?"

Part of him wanted to pretend that he did so that he didn't look dumb in front of her, but at the same time, he knew that the goal of the exchange program with Earth was to bring humans over so that they could educate the Denynso about the cultures, customs, and history of the planet and its people so she was probably not surprised that he was unsure of some of what she said. Finally he shook his head.

"My mother and my father got divorced when I was pretty young, then she married…," she hesitated as if she couldn't bring herself to say the word that was right at the tip of her tongue. She closed her eyes and let out a breath, "she married her second husband, which is what a stepfather is. Does that make sense?"

She didn't say it like she was mocking him and Ty realized that he really enjoyed learning more about the other planet, even if it was something that broke his heart even to think about.

"I guess. I mean, I get what you are saying, but I have to admit I don't really understand it. We don’t have divorce among the Denynso."

She looked surprised.

"You don't? Everybody just stays married no matter what?"

"Well, no. We don't get married. We bond. There is only one other person in the entire existence that can create a bond with each of us, and once we have found that mate and complete the bond, it is for life. There is no such thing as two mated people just deciding that they no longer want to be mates and then finding new mates. They are with their mates, or they are alone. That's just the way it is."

She got a soft, almost sad look in her eyes and Ty stopped walking so that he could turn her to face him. He wanted to be closer to her, just to look at her. The feelings building inside him were threatening to overwhelm him, and even though he felt guilty for even thinking about her that way, he needed to feel her near him.

"And they're happy?" she asked, looking up at him.

Ty nodded, reaching up to brush a strand of her dark hair away from her face. He traced the curve of her jawline with one fingertip. She was so beautiful. He had never seen any woman that looked like her, that was so breathtaking he literally couldn't stop looking at her.

"I have never seen Pyra, Gyyx, Ciyrs, or Ero as happy as they are now. Finding our mate is something that we look forward to our entire lives. We know that once we find her, we will be complete. The bond is something that can't be broken and I have never known a mated pair to ever be unhappy together."

"Never?"

"I mean, they argue, of course. There's always going to be bickering and disagreements between people who truly love each other. They don't last, though. Nothing keeps them from wanting to be together."

As they spoke their bodies had drawn closer to each other and Ty could see her trembling slightly. He touched her face again, bringing his fingers beneath her chin so he could tilt her face up to look at him again. He wondered if she could feel it too; if she understood what was happening between them and what it meant. She tilted her face so that her cheek pressed further into his palm and Ty started to ask her what she was feeling when he heard someone shouting his name from behind them.

Chapter Five

The sound of the deep, gruff voice calling Ty's name jolted me out of the peaceful calm that he had created between us and I stepped back away from him. His hand fell away from my face and I immediately missed his touch. He was so incredibly sweet, so caring and attentive in a way that I had never experienced. When he talked about the mated couples and how happy they were together, I felt my heart reaching out to him, seeming to melt with each of his words. There was something in the way he was saying them that made it feel like he was telling me much more than just about how they created partnerships in his culture.

What really stood out to me about what he had said was the concept of bonding as opposed to marriage. He hadn't explained what the bonding was or how they went about knowing that they both wanted to bond, and I was desperate to find out. The way he talked about it was so reverent and mysterious, but at the same time, when he said it I could feel a primal heat and energy come off of him. My body responded instantly and again I felt the need for him to touch me. It was unlike anything I had ever felt about another guy. The teenage boys that flocked around me and even the older students at the university had been a bore and even though I dated, I never felt a strong connection to anyone. Now all I could think about was Ty and the way I craved him.

"Tyant!"

The booming voice sounded intense and demanding, almost like whoever was yelling was trying to be forceful and intimidating to whoever was around to listen, but particularly to Ty. I saw Ty's eyes close briefly before he turned around to face the man walking toward us. He had the Mohawk of the other men and the long stride of a warrior. I immediately tensed. Pyra, Gyyx, and Ero seemed nice in the very brief time that I had had to interact with them, but I was quickly finding that I didn't like the other warriors very much. Their aggressive, almost violent personalities made me feel the same type of crushing oppression that I had become accustomed to feeling from my stepfather and I was not about to let myself feel that again when I had just so narrowly escaped him. I came here to get away from the things that frightened me and held me back, if only for a little while, and the thought of them putting me right back into that feeling was something I couldn’t tolerate.

"The king and queen want you now," the man said as he approached.

He wasn't looking at Ty, but at me. I saw his eyes scour over my body and lock on my mouth. He licked his lips and I felt my body stiffen uncomfortably. There was none of the gentleness, the connection in his eyes that was in Ty's, and I noticed that his eyes remained a dark purple color rather than shifting occasionally to orange as I noticed that Ty's did.

Ty stepped up closer to me and I felt myself leaning toward him.

"We're on our way," Ty said.

"Maybe I should take over from here," the man said, "After all, shouldn’t our lovely new guest have a warrior to protect her like the other human women have?"

"Ciyrs isn't a warrior," Ty said.

"Ciyrs didn't escort Eliana when she first came here. Pyra did. But as we know, Pyra is extremely mated and has a little more on his plate than the rest of us do, so there seems to be a position open that requires a warrior to step in and take over. You did a fine job getting her to her house, but I'll take it from here. Why don't you go on back home and bake something?"

The words were so vicious that even I felt the venom coming off of them and I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't feel like a person in that moment, but more like a toy that these two men were batting around between them, trying to gain dominance over the other.

"She was given to me," Ty protested.

"Excuse me?" I said, taken aback by the words coming out of Ty, "Given to you? Is that what you men do on this planet? Just gather up the women as they step off of the shuttles from Earth and hand them out like party favors?"

Tears were stinging in my eyes and I felt like I couldn't be near either of the men anymore. While I was furious with the warrior for his arrogance, I was heartbroken by Ty. He had been so sweet and suddenly he seemed just like all of the other men who had come my way.

I took off running, not entirely sure where I was going but confident that I would be able to find my way to the meeting hall on my own. Going on my understanding of patterns and grids, I used my instincts to weave my way through the compound until it opened out into a large space with a towering building at its center. I saw Zuri standing on the steps leading up to the front door with Ero standing a few steps beneath her, his head rested on her stomach as he held her around her hips.

I ran toward her, part of me feeling horrible for breaking up the beautiful moment between the couple. She looked up and noticed me. Gently easing Ero away from her, she came to meet me, gathering me in her arms even before she spoke.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

I shook my head and tried to explain what had just happened. I could feel the eyes of the other men on me and I found myself longing for Ty even though I was still upset with him. At least with him nearby I felt like I was protected.

"Where is he?" the enormous warrior I remembered from the night before as Pyra stalked toward me.

"I left him near my house," I answered.

"And you said he was with a warrior?" I nodded, "And he insulted you?"

"Not me, really. More Ty, I guess. He told him that he would take over from there and that he should be the one that was guarding me."

"Oh, shit."

Without any more warning than that, Pyra shot off in the direction of my house, Ero following even faster after him.

"What was that all about?" I asked Zuri.

She stroked my hair and smiled at me. I could see something different about her, but I wasn't sure what.

"Can I ask you a question, Samira?"

"Of course."

"What color are Ty's eyes when he looks at you?"

"Sometimes they're brown and sometimes they're orange."

Her smile grew slightly and she nodded, looping her arm through mine and guiding me toward the door to the meeting hall.

"Let's get you inside to meet with the king and queen and then get some breakfast. I think we have a few things to talk about."

Chapter Six

"Look what you did," Dillyn said tauntingly, "You made the pretty little thing run away. Well, maybe not so little. Young, though. Fresh and tender just like…"

Before he could get another word out, Ty's fist connected with his cheek and Dillyn went sprawling across the ground. The impact sent a surge of adrenaline through Ty and he launched at the prone warrior, tackling him down into the dirt before Dillyn could even get his wits about him again. He could barely believe what he was doing, but Ty couldn't stop his attack. The anger and protectiveness that filled him was unlike anything he had ever felt. Usually calm and docile, he had always been a nurturer, not a fighter. Suddenly, though, he had discovered the beast inside him. As soon as Dillyn started talking about Samira that way, he had felt like something inside him had unfurled like a tightly wound metal spring that someone suddenly released.

He continued to wail on Dillyn, pounding him into the ground with all of the fury that boiled within him. After a few moments he felt a tug on his shoulder and his name coming through the loud ringing in his ears.

"Damn, Ty, get off of him!"

He felt another hand on his other shoulder and the combination of the two finally pulled him away from Dillyn. The warrior writhed on the ground, blood pouring from his face and streaked across his chest. It felt like his constantly present erection had gotten even harder and now Ty was so filled with energy and adrenaline all he wanted to do was find Samira, toss her over his shoulder, and bring her back to his house. In the back of his mind, though, he could still hear Dillyn talking about how young she was. The conflict made him feel sick and he needed to get away from the situation.

He pushed past Pyra and Ero, heading for his shop. It was the one place where he felt completely comfortable and could get out his stress in a way other than beating the shit out of a warrior for upsetting Samira and then talking about her in such a disrespectful way. He heard the two warriors fall into step behind him, but that was fine. He didn't mind them coming along. In fact, he thought it might be nice to have them to talk to. Since they were both recently mated they might be able to help him navigate all of his confusion. He thought that maybe they would be able to talk him out of his compulsive need for Samira.

"She's 18, Ty," Pyra said as soon as they stepped into the shop behind Ty.

"Holy shit," Ty said, resting his elbows on the counter and burying his head in his hands, "She's only 18."

"That's an adult," Pyra reminded me, "and she is far smarter than other women her age. You really are not that much older than she is. I don’t understand why this is stressing you out so much."

Ty raised his head and looked at the two warriors standing in front of them. These were men he had been taking care of for years, using his unusual talents and strengths to nurture them and make sure that they had what they needed. He was like Ciyrs in a way, but whereas Ciyrs healed them if they were sick or injured, Ty took care of them while they were well and helped to make sure they stayed that way. It was not what people expected of a Denynso of his size, but it suited him. Now he was feeling more like one of the aggressive, violent warriors and it was all because he was struggling between knowing he had found his mate and not knowing if it was right to pursue her.

"What if I hurt her? What if she isn't ready to handle all of this and she ends up going back to Earth?"

"I just went through that exact situation," Ero reminded him.

"I know, but you went after her and she came back. Zuri is a grown woman. She knows who she is and what she wants out of life. She made the decision to leave you, but she also made the decision to come back to you. What if Samira leaves and is too afraid to come back? I don't think I could stand knowing that I had hurt her or taken advantage of her in some way while trying to bond with her, and then having to be alone for the rest of my life."

"Here's the thing, Ty," Ero said, "I didn't know if Zuri was actually going to come back with me, but I had to try. You already know that Samira is your mate. Whether you bond with her now or 5 years from now when she's your age, she will still be your mate and she will still be linked to you forever. Remember, though, that 5 years from now, she will be older, but so will you. When is it going to be right? And are you willing to possibly lose her forever because you were too afraid?"

Ty didn't have a chance to respond before he saw a figure appear in the doorway.

"We're going to head out of here," Pyra said, taking Ero by the arm and dragging him out of the room.

"Hi, Samira," Ero said as he struggled to keep up with Pyra.

"Hi, Ero," she replied, and then turned to Ty, "Hi, Ty."

"Hi," he said, turning the bread dough he had been working on out onto the counter.

"What are you doing?" she asked, taking a few steps toward him.

"Making bread," he answered shortly, still not looking up at her.

Suddenly he felt her come up beside him and rest a hand on his upper arm.

"Can I help?" she asked softly.

Chapter Seven

I watched Ty's hands kneading into the dough on the counter and felt the flutter in my belly grow more intense. His powerful hands worked over the dough masterfully, and I wanted them on my body. The conversation I'd had with Zuri resonated through my mind, and as I looked at him, I knew my dear friend and professor was right. This big, beautiful man was my mate, and after Zuri had given me a careful explanation of exactly what it entailed, I knew that I wanted more than anything to bond with him.

I touched his arm, feeling the muscles tense and shift beneath his skin as he continued to press into the dough. His rhythm seemed to increase a little and I lifted his arm so that I could slip beneath it. He cleared his throat, but lowered his arms around me so that his hands rested over mine. Lifting them up, he brought them down onto the dough and guided me in kneading it. The dough felt soft and warm beneath my hands, and Ty's hands felt strong and comforting over them. I could feel the heat from his body radiating toward mine, and with each long press down into the dough, his erection brushed against me.

The feeling of it made me moan softly and I arched my back to press my hips back toward him so that I returned the touch with more intensity and intention. His hands pushed mine deeper into the dough, kneading harder as his breath dropped and I could hear him struggling to control it behind me. I leaned back so that my back touched his chest, subtly rolling my hips against him. His breath caught in his throat and his hands stopped moving.

"Samira," he said imploringly.

"Yes, Ty?"

"Stop."

"Why?"

I rolled my hips a little harder and heard him groan.

"This isn't right."

"Why?"

I was going to force him to tell me exactly what he was thinking so that I could prove how wrong he was. I knew exactly why he thought it was wrong. Zuri had learned from Pyra that he was upset about my age. I didn't care what he thought, though. I had fallen for Ty as soon as I saw him and there was no way that I was going to let a few years of difference between us keep from having him as my mate. I would just have to prove how much of a woman I really was.

"You're too young," he finally whispered.

I pressed back into him and tilted my head so I could kiss his neck.

"Am I? Do I feel too young to you?"

Ty gave a soft grunt and I withdrew my hands from the dough, brushing the flour off of them.

"No," he said gruffly.

I turned around to face him. The orange streaks in his eyes were covering more of the brown now and I felt a surge in my heart as I remembered that Zuri told me the Denynso men's eyes changed to orange when they mated. I knew I was getting to him. I just had to press further. I touched his face gently, easing it forward with my fingertips against his cheek until I could touch my mouth to his. My lips parted and I touched the tip of my tongue to his bottom lip, tempting him to open his mouth. When he did, I flicked my tongue across his, deepening the kiss briefly before pulling back, catching his bottom lip between my teeth as I went.

"Do I kiss like I'm too young?" I asked, my voice dropping the more I spoke.

He shook his head and I smiled, leaning in to kiss him again. He returned the kiss, but only slightly as if still struggling to control himself.

"Please, Samira," he said, his eyes closed.

"Look at me, Ty," I said and he opened his eyes, "Do I look like I'm too young?"

His eyes grew sad and he nodded.

"Yes."

"Do I?" I asked, taking the hem of my shirt and pulling it off over my head.

"We're in my shop, Samira," he said, "Anybody could walk in at any second and see you."

"I want you to see me."

"I can see you."

His defenses were dropping and I was eager to keep going.

"Your house is connected to the shop, isn't it?" I asked, referencing what Zuri had told me.

"Yes."

I walked across the shop to the door on the back wall. I knew it led directly into his house and that he rarely locked it. That afternoon was the same as usual and the door opened easily beneath my hand. I glanced over my shoulder at him as I stepped into his house.

"Where is your bedroom, Ty?"

He didn't answer and I stepped all the way into the house, deciding I would just figure out where the room was on my own. After a few seconds, he hadn't followed me. I unbuttoned and unzipped my pants and pulled them off, tossing them back through the door into the shop. They hit the ground and I heard Ty groan. The door swung open further and I saw his broad form fill the doorway. I had undressed myself down to nothing but a black lace bra and matching panties, and when he looked at me, his eyes went completely orange.

"Do I look too young now?"

He still didn't answer and I turned away from him, giving him a full view of all of my curves in the barely-there panties, and walked further into the house. I glanced around and saw a stairwell in the far corner. I crossed to it and climbed the stairs slowly, letting my hips sway with each step. I could feel him following me, his eyes on my body as I put myself on display for him. I wanted him to want me with the same fire and intensity that I wanted him, and when I was finished with him, I wanted him to have no question left in his mind whether I was old enough to be his mate.

I made it up the stairs and found that almost the entire upper floor was his bedroom. A massive bed sat in the middle of a huge room, making it look like a pedestal where I was more than ready to worship. I turned to face him as Ty stepped into the room.

"Come closer," I told him.

He seemed reluctant, but he complied, closing the space between us with a few long, slow steps. I kissed him, drawing his tongue into my mouth and sucking on it suggestively as I pressed the front of my body to his. I could feel his erection pushing into my belly and I nudged against him.

"Undress me," I said.

I felt his hands shaking slightly as he brought them to my back to release the hooks on my bra. He peeled it away from my body and dropped it to the floor at our feet, and then hooked his fingers in the waistband of my panties to ease them off of my hips. I wriggled them off of my legs and stepped out of them, now completely bare in front of him.

Walking backwards, I made my way to the bed. When I felt the edge of the mattress on the backs of my legs, I turned around and crawled onto the bed, arching my back as I went. I reached the pillows and turned so I reclined back on them.

"Take off your shirt."

He complied and I felt my body clench at the sight of his chiseled chest and rippled stomach. I wanted to get my hands on him so badly, but I was determined that it was going to be him that took me. I might be seducing him, but when we finally did bond, he was going to be the one that made it happen.

"Everything else," I said, fighting to keep my voice steady.

His eyes glowed back at me and I could see the struggle continuing behind them as he at once fought his desire for me and gave in to my seduction. My mouth watered when I finally saw his fully naked body, his muscles beautifully formed under smooth skin, and his perfect, powerful-looking erection standing out from his hips in a way that made me almost lose control. I licked my lips and I saw Ty's cock twitch.

"Oh," I said, "Is that what you want?"

I beckoned him forward with one finger, encouraging him to climb onto the bed with me. He laid down beside me and I got on my knees between his legs, reaching forward to finally wrap my hand around his gorgeous erection. My fingers couldn’t touch as I encircled his thick shaft and the tingle between my thighs spiked. I leaned down and drew my tongue along the underside of him from the base to the tip, then licked again to gather the drop of crystalline fluid that had gathered there. He groaned and I met the sound with the slide of my mouth over the head.

I slipped down further, moving slowly to savor every vein and ridge against my lips and tongue. Holding the base in one hand, I picked up a smooth, steady rhythm that brought him further and further into my mouth with each glide. My attention wrenched groans from his chest and soon Ty was gripping the comforter on either side of him, his eyes squeezed closed as he concentrated on the sensations I was sending through him. I could feel him getting harder in my mouth and I released him, giving him a few seconds to cool to bring him back from the brink.

Moving forward, I straddled his hips, settling myself so my pelvis touched his and my core cradled his erection. I rested his cock against my palm and rocked my hips, causing me to slide up and down him. The hot wetness from my body transferred to his, making my movements silky and easy. With each rock I brought my core further up his shaft, eventually getting to a point where the tip teased my clit with each stroke. The breath caught in my throat at that feeling and I repeated it, pressing up slightly with my palm to increase the pressure between our bodies.

"Do I feel too young?" I asked. He didn't answer and I pressed harder, burrowing him in my folds without letting him enter me, "Do I, Ty?"

Suddenly he grabbed me by my hips and flipped me onto my back. I gasped at the movement and felt my body get even wetter as he hovered over me, staring down into my face with intensity that took my breath away.

"No," he growled and I felt the tip of his erection tease at my opening.

"Are you my mate, Ty?" I whispered.

He moved his hips forward slightly, massaging me and building pressure low in my belly.

"I am your mate."

"Do you want me?"

"More than anything I have ever wanted in my life."

I took a long, shuddering breath.

"Show me."

He pushed forward and filed me, taking his time to let me stretch around him. I whimpered at the intense feeling and clutched at his back. Just when I thought I couldn’t accommodate any more, Ty gave a hard thrust, sinking all the way into me and eliciting a sharp cry at the blissful combination of pain and pleasure. We paused there for a moment, letting our bodies learn each other. He kissed me languidly, his mouth moving across mine familiarly.

Finally his hips relaxed and I felt him start to move within me. My walls held him firmly and he groaned deeply as he built his rhythm. Each long, deep thrust coaxed sounds from my lips and I gave myself over to him, allowing him to bond me to him completely and irrevocably. Slow sex had never done much for me, but this was a transcendent experience and when I came, suddenly and with blinding intensity, I felt like I was drawing him into my body and my soul. He responded to the scream I let out at my climax with a growl and he gave one more hard thrust and released into me. My body milked him and I clung to him, emotion starting to overwhelm me.

He finally opened his eyes and I saw that they were completely orange.

"My mate," he whispered, leaning down to nuzzle my neck and touch a kiss to my shoulder.

"Always," I whispered back, licking the front of his neck.

Chapter Eight

Ty and Samira stayed in bed for the rest of the afternoon, exploring each other as she proved to him again and again that she was everything that he needed, and he showed her over and over that he was everything she could handle. They finally drifted to sleep, completely spent, in each other's arms, but were awaken less than an hour later by frantic pounding on Ty's door.

"This seems awfully familiar," Samira joked as Ty rolled away from her and climbed out of bed, pulling on his pants.

He shot her a smile and walked out into the corridor and then down the stairs. The pounding continued, and Ty was aggravated by the time he reached the door. He didn't want to talk to anybody. He wanted to shuck off his pants and crawl back into bed with Samira.

"What do you want?"

Ero stood on the other side of the door, his expression strained.

"You need to come with me," he said.

"I'm busy right now," Ty said, not really caring what was going on.

Ero shook his head.

"I'm sorry. I know you have Samira here and that's wonderful and I'm sure I'm going to be really happy for you pretty soon, but you need to come with me."

"What's going on?"

Both men turned in the direction of the stairs and Samira's voice. She was walking toward them, buttoning one of Ty's shirts on over her pants. Ty's heart lit up. The shirt engulfed her, but it made her look adorably sexy and completely his. She came to his side and looked at Ero intensely.

"What's going on, Ero?" she repeated.

"The warriors just got back from their patrol. They said that they have really important information and that they need all of us in the meeting hall immediately."

Without hesitation, Ty ran back up the stairs to put on his shoes and shirt. When he got back down, they left the house and hurried toward the meeting hall. Ero was an impossibly fast runner, a skill that had become a tremendous benefit in their last battle against the Klimnu, and he seemed to be struggling to keep himself slow enough that Ty and Samira could keep up with him. Ty knew this meant that something extremely serious was going on with the warriors.

They entered the hall and saw it was crowded with Denensyo. Several warriors stood on a low stage at one end of the room and Ty saw that Pyra was in the middle, his face stern and concerned. As soon as Ty and Samira settled onto the bench with the other human women, he began to speak.

"We have just returned from our normal patrol, but this time we found something we have never seen before. At the far end of the compound there is a cave in the cliff. Until now we didn't think anything of it. Today, however, we decided to investigate further and found that it is not a cave, but a rock tunnel that dips far into the ground. It was extremely difficult to find and impossible for any of us to navigate because of our size. We believe that this is the way that the Klimnu are getting into the compound. The Traitor told them about the cave and has been providing them with information and resources for quite some time."

A shocked whisper rippled through the crowd and Ty cuddled Samira a little closer to him, part of him terrified that she was going to hear all of this and be afraid and compelled to leave. Instead, she looked fascinated.

"We need to build our defense and devise our plan of attack," Pyra said and sounds of affirmation rose up through the tribe. "It is time we settled this conflict with the Klimnu once and for all."

Ty felt Samira stand up suddenly, causing his arms to drop away from her.

"I'll help," she called out.

There were a few gasps throughout the room and I reached up to pull her back down, but she stayed strong.

"Who is that?" Pyra asked.

"It's me, Samira. I want to help."

(To be Continued in Part X… )

Book 10 – Rescued by Sweetest Alien

Chapter One

"I want to help."

The whispers in the room around me grew louder and I could feel the eyes of all of the Denynso burning into me. The ones who didn't know who I was tried to figure out why there was a new human girl offering her help to the clan, and those who did know who I was expressed their surprise that I was so willing to just throw myself into what I was quickly realizing to be an extremely dangerous situation. The massive, intense-looking warrior Pyra stared at me from the platform at the other end of the banquet hall, evaluating me silently.

It felt like we were stuck in some kind of standoff. Beside me I felt Ty, my brand new mate, gently pull on my hand as if he was trying to tug me back down to sit on the bench beside him. I resisted the tug and continued to stare at Pyra, my shoulders squared and my jaw set. I know that to them I was small and weak, but on Earth, I was not. Slightly taller than average with broad shoulders, round hips, and a sturdy build, most people considered me a very strong and capable-looking woman. Add to that the fact that I am far more intelligent and resourceful than nearly anyone I have ever met, and have a stubborn streak that can rarely be broken.

The fact that my body was still humming from a day of intense, all-consuming bonding with my mate only worked to make me more determined and give me greater strength and energy than I had felt in a long time. In an instant I had changed from just a human foreign exchange student that had come to Uoria with my favorite professor in order to escape the torment of my stepfather back on Earth to a member of the clan who was fully committed not just to loving and protecting my mate, but to doing whatever I could to defend the entirety of the clan and my future in it. For the first time in my life I felt truly and completely part of something, and from the look on Pyra's face and the intensity in his voice, I knew that was being severely threatened. I was not going to stand by and allow that to happen. I knew that I came to this planet for a reason, and it seemed to be showing itself.

"I want to help, Pyra," I repeated, taking a step forward so that he could see me more clearly.

I had only encountered Pyra briefly, but I knew him to be the most powerful and aggressive of all of the planet's warriors; known throughout the galaxy for his skill in battle. If I could convince him to accept my help and allow me to utilize some of my own skill and knowledge, the rest of the warriors would truly have no choice but to follow along with it.

"Are you sure, Samira?" Pyra finally asked.

His voice rumbled through the banquet hall, seeming to quiet the whispers as it rippled through the crowd to me.

"Yes."

"What can you do?"

It wasn't a challenge or meant to be mocking. He was genuinely asking me how I could contribute. There was a war coming, and though I wasn't sure about all of the details, I could tell that it was something that had been building up for quite some time. This was not going to be a simple fight. It was going to require more than just the size and strength of the warriors. I stared up at him for a moment, and then an idea suddenly shot through my mind. I turned and rushed toward the bench where the other human women sat.

I crouched down in front of them and looked at each directly in the eyes.

"We were planned for our mates since birth, right?" The women nodded, "And we are the only human women who have ever been mated to Denynso men in the history of the clan, right?" They nodded again and I started to feel even more courageous, "So don't you think it is a little bit strange that in a clan that has never had a human woman mate, five are chosen in less than a year?"

They glanced at each other and I saw their expressions grow nervous. Eden's hand drifted to the swell of her belly as if protecting the child that grew inside.

"We don't know that there weren't other human women that were supposed to be mates. They just never came onto the planet, so their Denynso men didn’t find them. Each of us had a specific reason for being here. Maybe there would have been more bonds if there was a more open visiting policy."

"No," Zuri said, meeting my eyes with an expression that said she was following my thought process, "It doesn't work that way. Samira's right. There is a reason that we all came here at the same time."

"What are you thinking?" Eliana asked.

"There are five of us. We each have our own skills and abilities. If war is coming, the enemies won't expect women to be a part of it, which means that we can band together and help our mates, and the rest of the warriors, finish this."

The rest of the women nodded and I stood back up, turning to Pyra.

"Bring us to the cave."

The whispers started through the room again and I felt Ty come to my side.

"What are you doing?" he said to me telepathically.

I was still getting used to the ability for him to read my thoughts and for me to read his, but in that moment it seemed like he didn't want the others to hear him questioning me. I drew closer to his side and leaned in to him even though I knew I didn't actually have to be close to him to communicate through my mind.

"Zuri suggested that I come here so that I could use my chemistry and biology knowledge to help with some healing potions. Maybe that's not all I can do, though."

"The Klimnu are dangerous, Samira. They nearly killed Eden, Eliana, and Leia, and they attacked Zuri. They won't hesitate to hurt you just because you are a woman. In fact, you might be in even more danger because you are a woman. The Klimnu are known for their hunger for women and for not really caring if those women want anything to do with them."

"Are you sure that you want to go?"

Pyra's voice interrupted our conversation and I stepped away from Ty to address him.

"Absolutely."

Chapter Two

Ty stared at Samira, trying to keep his mouth from hanging open as he processed what was going on. He was still coming down from the elation of finally bonding with her and had been taken off guard by Pyra's announcement that it was time to declare war on the Klimnu and eliminate the threat that had been plaguing the Denynso. Now he was watching as his beautiful mate offered herself as a tool for them to use in battle. It was all so overwhelming and he didn't know what he was supposed to think. He wasn't a warrior and had never been involved in any of the battles or the raids. The thought of Samira handing herself over to the violent and aggressive warriors so that she could be a part of whatever battle plan they devised was terrifying.

"We need to go now. Tonight we plan how we are going to handle these creatures once and for all."

He looked around the room, meeting eyes with the warriors. They started to walk forward toward him, gathering at the base of the stage. Ty watched Samira turn back toward the other women.

"Eliana, Zuri told me that you are working on healing ointments."

"Yeah. Ciyrs, Eden, and I have been working on some potions we hope will help make the healing process much faster when people are injured. Right now it is a pretty involved process that can have some rather…unintentional effects, and we are hoping that we might be able to come up with some ointments that will allow us to treat some of the problems that way rather than having to always use our hands."

Ty knew exactly what Eliana meant with her delicate wording. It was well-known that the healing procedures used by the clan healer Ciyrs and his mate Eliana often resulted in extreme arousal, and sometimes even a link that rivaled the connection between mates. This is what had happened between Eden and Ciyrs, creating some tension between Ciyrs and Pyra even though the connection between the Eden and the healer would never go any further than just a very close friendship.

"Ciyrs and Eliana can't always do the healing," Eden explained, "It takes so much energy that it can put them at risk if they try to heal too serious of an injury, or too many people at once. We've been trying to find a way to help that."

"If there is a war coming, there will be injuries, potentially a lot of them. And that means that Ciyrs and Eliana are not going to be able to handle the healing completely by themselves. We need that potion finalized as soon as possible. Can the three of you go work on it now?"

Eliana and Eden nodded and stood. Ty watched Samira turn her attention to Zuri and Leia.

"If the two of you can come with me, we can go to the cave and get an idea of where it goes. That is going to be at the center of all of the planning."

"Samira," Ty started, reaching out a hand to place on her shoulder, "The warriors can plan their battles. They do not need you to do it for them."

"Don’t question your mate, Ty."

Pyra's intense voice right behind him made Ty jump slightly and he turned to face the warriors who had gathered close to them.

"We are coming with you to the cave," Samira told Pyra.

"She's smart and she's brave," Pyra said, "Be proud of her."

"You can't bring the women into battle, Pyra," Ty insisted.

"We aren't going into battle tonight," Samira said, "We are finding out where the cave leads and coming up with strategies. If I can help with that, why shouldn't I?"

Ty knew that he had no argument against her. There was nothing that he was going to be able to say that was going to stop her from doing exactly what she wanted to do. Just like she had been able to convince him that she was not too young to be his mate despite his mind telling him that she was and him trying his hardest to resist her, if she was set on being a part of the preparations for the battle with the warriors, he was not going to be able to convince her to do anything else. The thought was frustrating, but at the same time it made him even more proud to be her mate. Like Pyra had said, she was smart and she was brave. These human women were proving that the Denynso had known nothing about Earth and its inhabitants.

"We're leaving now," Pyra said, starting toward the door.

"Are you coming with me?" Samira asked.

Ty felt a surge of protectiveness and knew that there was no way he was going to be able to let her go off into some unknown area of the planet where there very well could be direct connection point between the compound and the Klimnu without him. He nodded and she returned the gesture, extending her hand to him. Ty took her hand and intertwined their fingers, immediately feeling calmer when his palm pressed against hers and he could feel her soft skin touching his.

They filed out of the meeting hall and Ty watched as Eliana, Eden, and Ciyrs took a sharp turn and headed off toward Ciyrs's shop. Those three had been working tirelessly on the ointments for weeks and he was hoping that they were going to find the right formula soon. The war was not going to wait, which meant they were running out of time.

Ty and Samira followed the warriors as they made their way across the compound, walking so quickly that she had to jog to keep up. Leia and Zuri caught up with them so that they all walked together, moving across the compound toward an area that Ty had never seen. Though he had spent his entire life in the compound, because he was not a warrior, he had not had reason to spend much time roaming around and exploring the borders. It was only the warriors who had to go on patrol who had the opportunity to really learn the entirety of the land that surrounded the compound. Now it seemed that part of that land had been breached, allowing the Klimnu access to their compound and to them. They would need to not only find that breach and learn everything that they could about it, but find a way that they could use it effectively to fight off the Klimnu and keep them from ever returning.

Chapter Three

I still wasn't sure exactly what I was doing even as I followed the warriors through the compound. Holding Ty's hand gave me strength and I squeezed it slightly the further we got away from the meeting hall so that feeling it in mind would make me feel braver as the distance between the brightly lit hall and us became greater and we got closer to the dark, unknown areas of the compound. I had only been on Uoria for two days and I had not had much opportunity to explore it during that time so I didn't know where we were headed or what we might encounter along the way. The thought was unnerving, but at the same time exciting. I knew now that I was a part of these people for the rest of my life and that I was going to do everything I could to ensure that they were safe and that we could all continue living our lives comfortably and happily in the compound.

The thought suddenly struck me and I felt my hand tighten on Ty's. He looked down at me with concern on his face. That was one of the strangest things that I had encountered during my time on the planet, but one that I was learning to love. While I was on Earth, I was not accustomed to men being considerably larger than me. Not only am I taller than most women, but I happened to spend the vast majority of my time at a university involved in a department that seemed to be dominated by men who were smaller than average. The result was me being taller than, just as tall, or only an inch or two shorter than all of the men who I encountered. This was most certainly not the case when it came to being on Uoria, and especially not being near Ty. My mate was tremendous beyond description and just standing beside him made me feel small, delicate, and protected.

I needed that feeling now as the realization hit me that choosing him meant choosing to leave Earth forever. I could not be with him and live on my own planet, which meant that I was going to have to leave everything that I knew and the people I cared about behind. It was a sudden and frightening realization, but one that I came to without hesitation. Now that I was bonded to Ty, I couldn’t imagine a single moment of my life not devoted to him. It didn't even cross my mind to be sad about leaving Earth, or even bitter at the thought that I was going to be the one who was expected to make such a complete and life-changing alteration. I would never for a second entertain the thought of asking him to leave Uoria to be with me on Earth. Though just 48 hours ago I knew nothing about this man or what it meant to bond to him, the second that I did, I understood that meant I now, and forever, belonged to this planet and these people.

I had been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize we had left behind all of the buildings of the compound and were now walking past a lake filled with purple water. It was quiet and beautiful, but something inside me felt the tightness of apprehension in my chest when we started to walk along its edge. I had never been completely comfortable around water when I was living on Earth, and the purple of the water combined with the knowledge that I was on a totally different planet made me wonder what could possibly lurk beneath that surface. I took a step further away from the edge and Ty smiled down at me. The fact that he didn’t say anything about the water or what was living in there seemed to confirm to me that I should be nervous.

When we got the rest of the way around the lake I saw that we had approached a large bank of cliffs. I noticed Ero stiffen where he stood in front of us and heard Zuri gasp. They grabbed hands and looked at each other.

"What is it?" I asked.

Zuri turned to look at me.

"This is where Ero and I came the night that we arrived back here. We had a picnic right by the lake and then went up on top of that cliff."

She pointed to a cliff nearby.

"I don't understand."

"The cave is at the base of that cliff," Pyra said from the front of the group, "If the Klimnu are using that tunnel to connect with the compound as we suspect that they are, that means that they could have been within just a few feet of Ero and Zuri when they were up there and the two of them didn't even know it. Everything that has been said near these cliffs might have been overheard by the Klimnu, and they could be using that passage to get in and out of the compound unnoticed. We think that the Traitor has known about the tunnel for quite a while and has been using it not only to bring the Klimnu information and supplies, but also to get to them and back into the compound quickly without anyone realizing that he was gone. That's how he was able to betray us so completely and for so long."

"Who is he talking about?"

"There was a warrior named Ullie," there was a hiss from a few of the warriors and Ty turned to them sharply, his hand coming up as if to quiet them, "Refusing to say his name is just giving his memory power. Don't let the sound of that one word be what is going to weaken you when you face battle with the Klimnu. If you let it be your defeat, it will be, but if you use it to enrage and empower you, it will only make you more effective when it comes time to fight."

"Ty's right," Pyra said and Ty felt a surge of pride go through him, "We aren't going to revere Ullie. We are going to remember what he did to us and ensure it never happens again." He turned to Samira, "Ullie fashioned himself as a warrior. He came to battle with us and fought beside us. Then he made an alliance with the Klimnu and enabled them to breach our compound and discover our defense plans. He is why they were able to injure Eden, capture Leia, hold her prisoner, and nearly kill her, and try to do the same to Eliana. We found out about his betrayal while we were in battle with the Klimnu but it was not enough to prevent another battle and to completely eliminate them."

The group started walking toward the cliffs again and Samira hurried to keep step with them.

"What happned to Ullie?" she asked.

Ty glanced down at her with a stern face.

"Pyra killed him."

Samira stopped short. She had always heard about the Denynso and their reputation for being fierce and fearsome warriors. She knew that they had fought wars with other species attempting to take over their section of Uoria and protected the planet from many threats. Hearing Ty describe Ullie's death so matter-of-factly, though, was a shocking, harsh hit of reality that made her truly come to the realization that they were not just talking about a distant and abstract threat, or going to see something that could be dangerous in theory. They were marching into war.

Suddenly something strange occurred to her and she ran forward to talk to Pyra.

Chapter Four

Ty followed after Samira, he wanted to be near her to hear what she had to say to Pyra as much as he wanted to protect her. He was quickly learning that the unexpected followed her, and that he was probably never going to feel completely confident that he knew what was going to happen next. That was something that he truly loved about her.

That realization hit Ty hard. He knew that he was drawn to her and incredibly turned on by her. He had even come to terms with the fact that even though she seemed so young, she was a grown woman who was more than enough mate for him. He had not had time, however, to wrap his mind around the emotions that all of that entailed, and he certainly hadn't thought, until that very second, that he loved her. His mind reeled at the thought and he longed to grab her, spin her around in his arms, and tell her not just that he loved her, but that he wanted to spend every moment of the rest of his life loving her.

Now was not the time, though. He wanted that moment just with Samira, not with most of the warriors of the clan, Leia, and Zuri. That was something that he needed to express to her when they were alone; when he could whisper it to her as he slowly undressed her, laid her down on his bed, and made love to her over and over again. The thought buoyed him as he caught up with Samira and heard her talking animatedly to Pyra.

"Don't you get what I'm telling you? You said that Ullie was a warrior. That means that he was most likely around your size, right? At least around the size of the other warriors."

"Yes," Pyra replied.

"Well, if you can't get anywhere near the tunnel to find out what is on the other side, why do you think that Ullie could?"

They had made it to the foot of the cliff and were making their way over the rocky terrain to a section several feet off of the ground where Ty could see the wide mouth of a cave. He had heard the warriors talking about that cave before. Several had even brought some of the women there when they wanted to be alone. None had ever thought anything strange about it. Now, however, it seemed to stare down at them ominously, gaping in the reddish-brown stone of the cliff as if tempting them to come in and meet their fate.

Pyra paused and turned to look at Samira. Ty could see the look on his face changing gradually as if he was processing what Samira had said to him.

"I guess he couldn't."

"No, he couldn't. Which means that either he was using another part of the cave to interact with the Klimnu…"

"Or there was someone else helping him."

"Exactly. Now what we have to do is figure out which one of those is the case. If it is just that there is another section of the tunnel that you couldn't find that is big enough for all of you to fit in, or there is some way that that tunnel is bigger than you thought it was, that is not that big of a deal. In fact, it would just make it that much easier to get to the Klimnu. If it is that there was someone else helping Ullie, though, we are dealing with much bigger problems."

Ty's chest constricted painfully as a surge of anger and protectiveness rolled through him. He wasn't even a warrior and he had been infuriated when he found out that Ullie had betrayed all of them and was essentially funneling them into the hands of the Klimnu. Now that he had found and bonded with Samira, this anger and was even greater. She was bringing out the beast in him, and for the first time he had no interest in waiting at the compound putting together packs of supplies for the warriors and being ready to take care of them when they came back. He could leave that to the women. He wanted to be a part of the fighting.

"How do we find out?" he asked.

"We have to go into the cave," Samira told him.

She looked over at Leia and Zuri, who stepped forward toward her, nodding as if they understood exactly what Samira needed even though she hadn't said it. Ty reached toward Samira but she shook her head at him.

"The warriors and you are too big to get inside, Pyra already said that. We have to start under the assumption that the tunnel truly is as small as they thought it was when they found it and then go from there. That means that we have to go in. It's the only way."

Samira got on her toes and lifted her mouth to Ty's. He kissed her gently, wanting to draw as much of the feeling of her as possible into him so that he could feel less afraid while she was out of his sight. As their lips parted he could see that Ero and Zuri, and Leia and Gyyx were kissing as well, two more pairs of mates drawing strength and confidence from one another. The other warriors waited patiently for the expressions of their bonds to be over. Even those who were not bonded understood the importance and solemnity of the bond and would not try to interfere with a moment between mates.

Samira turned to Pyra when she stepped back from Ty.

"Show us where to go."

Pyra started climbing up the side of the cliff and the women followed. The path was steep, but they all held their own as they traversed the uneven ground and climbed over rocks and jutting sections of the wall. Ty followed close behind them, wanting to be there to catch her just in case Samira happened to lose her footing and fall down the side of the cliff. Gyyx and Ero scrambled up behind him, their eyes locked on their own mates as they went. Beneath them were the rest of the warriors, watching them with expressions on their faces that said they very much hoped none of them were going to go tumbling down the cliff.

Fortunately they all made it to the plateau in front of the mouth of the cave safely and formed a line so that they all could stare into the cave. The darkness inside was so intense Ty felt like he could reach out and touch it.

"How did you find out about the tunnel?" Samira asked.

"We were doing our patrol and we heard a sound from inside the cave so we decided we wanted to see if there was anyone in there. We thought everyone was accounted for in the compound, so we wanted to make sure that no one was hurt in there. You go just a few yards into the cave and then the ground suddenly drops off into the tunnel. I could only make it down the tunnel a couple of feet before it got so tight that I almost couldn't get myself back out."

"If I had known that I was going to be spelunking today, I probably would have chosen a little bit better of an outfit," Samira said, adjusting her shirt down over her waistband, "Alright, ladies. Are you ready?"

The other two women voiced their affirmation and stepped forward so that the three stood separate from their mates and Pyra. Ty saw Gyyx reach into the bag he wore around his hip and pull out a torch. He handed it to Samira, reached back into his bag, and pulled out a flint. He lit the torch and stroked Leia's face one more time before stepping away.

"Go straight in, go as far as you can, and then come back," Pyra said. He reached into the bag on his own hip and pulled out his dagger, handing it to Samira by the handle, "If you find any Klimnu or anything else that scares you, don't hesitate. Kill it and run."

Samira nodded, took a breath, and started into the cave.

Chapter Five

All of the fear I had been trying to suppress as I followed the warriors to the cliffs suddenly hit me as I stood there looking into the cave. The torch in one hand, the dagger in the other, and the lingering feeling of Ty's lips against mine, however, gave me confidence as I squared my shoulders and started forward into the darkness. Zuri and Leia followed me, coming close to my sides but staying just a step behind as if allowing me to take the lead.

We walked carefully, none of us knowing what to expect as we stepped past the opening to the cave. None of us had ever been inside it before and if I didn't miss my guess none of us were familiar enough with the topography and composition of Uoria to know if the caves on this planet were anything like the ones on Earth. I had only gotten the chance to read up a little bit on the planet and all I had learned was that there were many different areas of the planet and a huge enough variety of climates and features that I could safely guess it did not maintain the same rules as Earth. While that was an exciting thought if I had the opportunity to just roam around and explore, it made venturing into the darkness of the cave even more frightening because I had no idea what I was going to encounter with each step.

I could hear my own breath as we walked through the wide first chamber of the cave. The torch splashed orange and yellow light through the chamber, cutting through the darkness and illuminating the sandy ground at our feet. The floor of the cave was studded with sharp stalagmites, the tips sparkling like ice in the light of the torch even though it wasn't cold enough in the cave for them to actually be frozen. As we walked deeper into the cave I noticed that the walls that had been far enough apart that I hadn't even been able to see them in the light of the torch were starting to close in. We took a few more steps and I saw the entrance to the tunnel that Pyra had talked about. It would have been easy to miss if we hadn't been looking specifically for it. As it was, I almost didn't notice it.

The walls seemed to close in completely, giving the impression that the first chamber was the entirety of the cave. Behind a particularly massive stalagmite that disappeared up into the darkness, however, was a narrow, low opening. The edges of the opening were uneven, but smooth, so it was difficult to tell if the wall had formed like that, or if someone, or something, had broken through the wall many years before and the edges had weathered over time.

"Yeah, there's no way that the warriors could get in there far," Leia said as I held the torch a little higher so that more light shined on it.

"I'm surprised that Pyra was able to even get in it at all, much less go a few feet into it," I replied in agreement.

"I don't even know if Ero could make it very far in there," Zuri said. Leia and I both looked at her and she shrugged, "I love my mate dearly, but he is tiny compared to the others. I've embraced it."

We laughed, thankful for the moment of levity that broke the fearful tension that was building in the cave. I let out a breath and handed Zuri the torch.

"Hold this up so that as much light as possible gets in there. I don't know how tight it is past this entry so I don't want to be in there with an open flame." She nodded and held up the torch. Leia stepped up and stood to her side so that her body would block some of the light and prevent it from dissipating throughout the cave, "Alright," I said, "Here I go."

I ducked my head and stepped through the opening. I probably could have walked through it without ducking, but I thought I would be cautious until I made it into the tunnel. As soon as I stepped in, I reached above me and found that the ceiling was higher than the top of the entry, but still only a few inches from my head. I opened my arms as far as I could get them and found that the walls were so close my elbows were still bent when I flattened my palms on either wall.

"Are you OK?" Zuri asked from the outer chamber of the cave.

"I'm fine," I replied, taking a few more cautious steps, "It is really tight in here. There is definitely no way the guys could have gotten a whole lot further than I am right now." I paused for a second, "Even Ero."

Both of the other women laughed and I started forward again. The light from the torch illuminated several feet ahead of me, but all I saw was the darkness. I held the dagger tightly in my hand, occasionally adjusting my grip so that I felt I had absolute control over the blade just in case I came upon another visitor of the tunnel who was less than pleased to see me.

The tunnel got no wider as I walked, but I could feel the ground beneath my feet start to dip so that I knew it was leading me down through the cliff and into the ground. It was a strange feeling, knowing that I had started many feet above the heads of the warriors and in a few moments I would be beneath them. Orienting had never been my strong point, but I was struggling with every ounce of processing ability that I had to keep track of the direction that I was moving and figure out where I was headed so that I could tell Pyra when I made it back. I couldn't let myself think "if".

"Zuri, it's tight in here, but I'm running out of light, do you think that you'd be OK bringing the torch in?" I called back over my shoulder.

The path ahead of me had gotten so dark that I wasn't able to see more than a few inches and I wasn't comfortable continuing on without light if I didn't absolutely have to.

"Do I think I would be OK like you think I might get stuck in there, or do I think I would be OK like you think I might catch us on fire if I go in there?" she called back.

"Well…both…maybe…just a little bit," I said cautiously, trying not the offend her.

Zuri was beautiful, but the truth was she was a little bigger even than me, and I wasn't entirely convinced that she would be able to navigate the tighter curves of the tunnel, especially if it got any smaller.

"Well, damn. That's comforting," she said.

I could hear in her voice that she wasn't upset. Ero had done amazing things for her in even the small amount of time that they had spent together and I would have to remember to thank him for the love, comfort, and confidence that he had given this woman who had meant so much to me during some of the most difficult times in my life.

"Sorry."

"It's alright. I'm on my way. Leia can bring up the rear and at least her tiny self will be able to get out in case all goes to hell and we burst into flames in here."

"Geez, Zuri, you sure do know how to make a girl feel better when she's creeping through the darkness holding a dagger."

"The things we do for our men."

I heard Zuri's voice close behind me and felt the warmth of the flame from the torch glowing on my back. I glanced over my shoulder at her and smiled.

"Don't I know it," I joked back, "But with the things that Ty is capable of, I am just fine with this little contribution."

Zuri let out a sound like she knew exactly what I was talking about.

"I am fine with just about anything as long as Ero keeps doing the same things to me that he was doing when we were on top of this cliff."

I laughed, but as soon as the sound made it all the way out of my throat, I felt the tension build inside me again. We were trying so hard to talk casually and joke about our men to distract us from walking down the tunnel, but it didn't have as much of an effect as we were hoping. Instead, as soon as I stopped talking, I felt even more nervous than I had before.

Chapter Six

"Where are they?" Ty growled as he paced in front of the cave.

"Calm down, Ty," Pyra said, "They have only been in there for a few minutes. Everything is fine."

"That's really easy for you to say, Pyra. Your mate is safely in a healer's shop playing around with herbs and leaves and shit trying to come up with healing potions. Mine is wandering around in a rock tunnel that none of us have any idea what might be in it, where it leads, or if it could be being used to bring our enemies into our compound. I'm a little stressed out right now."

"So I take it you got over your whole 'she's too young' thing and finally bonded with her?" Pyra asked.

Ty stopped pacing long enough to glare at him briefly, and then went back to pacing.

"Yes."

"And?"

"And what? It was the most incredible experience of my life, I'm hopelessly in love with her, and now I'm terrified that I've just watched her walk into her death. How is it that a group of warriors and a nurturer just sent three women into a potentially extremely dangerous tunnel with nothing more than a torch and a dagger?"

"They're going to be fine, Ty. You need to learn to have some faith in your mate. I know they seem small, but if Eden has taught me anything in my time with her, it is that human women are far more capable than we give them credit for. Zuri tells me that Samira is incredibly smart and resourceful. I wouldn't have let them go in if I didn't think that they would be safe."

"And what happens if they aren't? What happens if they get into the tunnel and it turns out that the Klimnu are using it, and they are in there? What then? Do you really think that they will be able to fight them off with a single dagger? We have no idea how many of them there are, and reserves could have arrived since the last battle. If we can't get in to them, it would be hopeless."

"So talk to her. Connect with her and make sure that she's OK. She might be able to tell you what she's seeing."

Pyra walked away, leaving Ty alone near the mouth of the cave. Ty stared into the darkness, straining to hear even the smallest hint that the women had made it into the tunnel or were headed back toward him. When only silence greeted him, he closed his eyes, took a breath, and concentrated on connecting directly to Samira.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

He waited a few tense moments.

"We're fine," he finally heard and felt his body relax slightly, "Pyra was right. This tunnel is extremely small. I didn't see anything that indicated that there might be a larger section or some kind of false wall that might open it up more. This is definitely it."

"How far have you gone?"

"Pretty far. The ground is getting steeper. I think we are probably all the way underground now. It's cold and feels kind of clammy down here."

"That's what the Klimnu feel like," he thought absently.

"I've never seen them."

"Zuri and Leia have. They'll tell you."

"I know. Wait…"

The connection went silent and Ty felt panic building inside him again.

"What? Samira? What's going on?"

"I feel air moving."

"What does that mean?"

"Air doesn't move inside a closed space. If I can feel air moving, it means that we are getting close to an opening in the tunnel. Get near Pyra. I want to be able to talk to him."

Ty called out to Pyra and gestured for him to come closer.

"Samira says that she can feel moving air," he told the massive warrior, "She wanted to be able to talk to you."

"Ask her if she can tell where the air is coming from."

Ty did as Pyra asked. It felt strange standing beside Pyra and having a silent conversation with his mate. He felt like the ability to communicate this way was such a private thing and it almost seemed inappropriate to be sharing it with Pyra. Of course, he knew that the way Ciyrs had healed Eden when she first came to the planet had created such a strong link between them that they were actually able to communicate telepathically, so Ty knew that it could be much worse. He didn't know how he would cope with knowing that another man was able to roam freely through Samira's thoughts or talk with her without anyone knowing what he was saying.

"Tell Pyra that I don't know yet. We can feel it on our faces and on our sides, so either it is one big opening, or there are two."

"Is the torch holding up?"

"The air in here is getting damper. It's fine for now, but I'm a little worried that it is going to go out soon. What do we do if it does?"

"Run the blade of the knife against the wall. Hopefully it will generate enough of a spark that you will be able to relight the torch."

"And if not?"

Ty hesitated. He didn't really know what to tell her. The thought of her being stuck inside the tunnel far underground without even so much as a light source made him feel sick.

"It'll work, Baby. Just keep going. I'm right here. Just know that I'm right here."

Chapter Seven

Ty's words gave me strength as I continued walking toward the feeling of the moving air. It was cold and thin, not what I expected coming from deep underground. Then I remembered my few visits to the caverns on Earth when I was younger and the way the air felt thinner once we got deep inside them. As I thought that I started to wonder if I was always going to be trying to draw parallels between the world I left behind and the one that I chose for my future. I wanted to embrace Uoria for all it had to offer, which meant that I would need to find a way to stop thinking about it as something to compare to Earth and start realizing all of its potential and beauty.

I took a calming breath and asked Zuri to bring the torch a little closer. The warmth from the flame seemed to dry the air around me just enough so that it no longer felt like it was crawling across my skin and I glanced down to realize that the ground at my feet had become wet and muddy. The terrain had definitely changed and I had the strange feeling that we had entered an area far from the cliffs where we had started. It felt like we had done more than just walk through a tunnel, that we were much further away than we should have been.

"Ty?" I called out to him in my mind.

"Yes? I'm here."

"Can you go into the cave?"

"Pyra said we won't fit in the tunnel."

"No, no, that's OK. You definitely won't fit. I just need you to find the entrance to the tunnel and yell into it for me."

"Did your torch go out? Are you lost?"

Ty's thoughts were starting to sound frantic and I tried to send him calming vibes. I didn't know if it worked that way, but I was hoping that I could send him soothing feelings through my thoughts that would work the same way holding his hand would.

"I'm not lost and the torch is still just fine. Don't worry about that. I just need you to go into the cave, walk all the way to the back, and find the entrance to the tunnel. Pyra can probably show it to you. When you get there, just shout in to me."

"Alright."

Ty didn't sound convinced. I kept walking as I waited to hear his voice, but it never came.

"Did you shout?" I asked, hoping that he would say that he hadn't.

"Yeah. I screamed your name a few times."

"As loud as you could?"

"Yeah."

I took a breath.

"OK. Is Pyra there with you?"

"Yes."

"Have him try."

I waited for a few seconds but still didn't hear anything.

"Did either of you hear the guys shouting?" I asked Zuri and Leia.

I could barely make out Leia's face behind Zuri, but I could see that both women were shaking their heads. I closed my eyes briefly, trying to orient myself and figure out what this meant.

"How far do you think that we walked?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Zuri asked.

"Do you think that we've come so far that if the guys were shouting into the tunnel we wouldn’t be able to hear them?"

"No. Those men are loud, besides, the tunnel would only amplify the sound. We haven't gone far enough that the sound couldn't travel to us. Why?"

"I had them shout into the entrance to the tunnel."

Zuri and Leia both got nervous expressions on their faces that told me they understood exactly what I was saying.

"How did we get that far away?" Leia asked.

"I don’t know," I replied, "but do we go back or do we keep going and try to find out where this tunnel leads?"

There was a moment of heavy silence. Even Ty wasn't talking to me through his thoughts.

"We came in here because Pyra and the other warriors believe that this tunnel has something to do with the Klimnu being able to get into the compound and attack and we are the only ones who could get inside," Zuri said slowly and carefully, "If we don't keep going, there'll be no way for any of us to find out what's going on, and it could leave the entire clan at even greater risk."

"You're right," I said, nodding, "We have to keep going. Turning back now isn't going to help anything."

"We're going to keep going," I told Ty through my thoughts.

"Do you want me to keep shouting?" he asked.

"No," I replied, "Just stay close to the entrance and as soon as you hear us coming, let me know. It might be a little while, but just listen for me. When you hear my voice, shout in to me."

"I will. Samira?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

I felt my breath catch in my throat and my grip loosen on the knife. I had to regain my composure quickly to prevent myself from dropping it.

"I love you, too."

If I had been vacillating at all in my determination to continue forward, that had sealed it. I had never seen the Klimnu and I didn't know exactly what they were capable of, but in that moment there was absolutely nothing that could have frightened me enough to stop me from fighting to protect Ty, his people, and our future together. I tightened my grip on the knife even further, set my jaw, and surged forward. I picked up speed until I almost left the other women behind. The faster I walked, the less nervous I felt, and suddenly I realized that I was excited to find out what was at the end of the tunnel. I knew for certain now that if this was in fact the path by which Ullie had been interacting with the Klimnu to remain undetected, he had not been acting alone. Unless the creatures had always come to him through that tunnel, which was highly unlikely considering the amount of vigilance the warriors used to protect the compound, there was someone else, someone small, who was acting as a go-between for the Traitor and the Klimnu.

I was determined I was going to find out who that was.

Chapter Eight

Ty sat on the floor of the cave beside the entrance to the tunnel, leaned back against the cold stone wall so that he could listen for any sound coming from the tunnel. It felt like he had been sitting there for hours and he wanted to connect with Samira and talk to her the entire time she was away, but he knew that she needed to be able to concentrate if she was going to gather all of the information that they needed about the tunnel and wherever it led and then get back to them safely. Pyra had gone back outside of the cave to talk to the other warriors and the silence surrounding Ty was becoming overwhelming. He closed his eyes and went back over the events of the last few days in his mind.

He never expected this. From the time he was a little child he knew that he was not going to be a warrior. The destiny of each Denynso man is set from the time of birth and it is evident early on what a man is going to do with his life, whether that is to join up forces as one of the clan's fearsome warriors so that he can march into battle and help the others defend the clan and the planet, or take on another role within the group. As a very young child it was already evident that being a warrior was not what he was made to do. While he was nearly as massive as Pyra, his spirit was gentle and nurturing, not aggressive. He had never been prone to fighting or lashing out. Instead, he was drawn to cooking and baking. He used his skills to prepare food for the warriors to take with them while they were in battle and to strengthen them when they came back.

It wasn't until Samira came along that he ever felt the intensity of what the warriors felt. She sparked something in him that was so powerful he was almost afraid of it himself. Suddenly he was ready to use his tremendous size and strength for more than he had ever used it for, and was ready to step forward and be a part of defending the planet from the Klimnu in what they hoped would be their final showdown. He always knew that he would change when he met his mate, but he never expected that the change would be so drastic and powerful. It brought to mind elements of his inner self that he had hidden for so long he didn't even know if he could still use them, elements that he had always feared and tried to forget that he had, but now knew may be the key to him helping the warriors.

"Can you hear me?"

The sound of Samira's voice suddenly coming through the tunnel broke Ty out of his thoughts and brought him to his feet. For a moment he thought that he may be hearing her talking to him through her mind, but her voice sounded too loud for that to be what was happening. He leaned into the mouth of the tunnel.

"Samira?" he shouted.

"Ty! Is that the first time you heard me calling for you?"

"Yes. Just now. Are you OK?"

"We're fine. We're coming your way, but the torch finally went out so it's dark. Just keep talking to me."

Ty nearly sagged with relief. He felt a smile break across his face as he crouched down so that it was easier to call into the tunnel.

"I'm here, Baby. I'm right here. Just keep coming toward me. Listen to my voice. I'm right here waiting for you."

Ty kept talking, repeating himself over and over because he couldn't think of anything else to say that he would want the other two women listening to as they walked through the tunnel. Finally he heard footsteps coming toward him and a few moments later he could feel Samira's presence near him. He reached out and his hands touched her. Even in the intense darkness he knew he was touching his mate. She curled into his arms and he pulled her back away from the mouth of the tunnel so that the other two women could step out into the main chamber of the cave.

"Pyra!" Ty shouted, "Bring us a new torch."

Heavy footsteps sounded in the front part of the chamber and Ty saw the bright glow of a new torch flame cutting through the darkness toward them. They rushed toward it, using the illumination to guide them around the stalagmites that jutted up from the floor of the cave. As soon as they stepped out onto the plateau, he saw Samira take a deep breath and lean over to rest her hands on her knees. She continued to draw in long breaths as if she were trying to replace all of the air from the tunnel in her body with fresh air. He stroked her back gently, trying to calm her, as Gyyx and Ero rushed forward to scoop Leia and Zuri into their arms. Everyone stayed silent for a few seconds as the men comforted and cuddled their mates. Finally Pyra stepped forward.

"What did you find?" he asked.

Samira straightened and curled close to Ty's side before she spoke. He wrapped his arm around her waist, giving over as much of his strength to her as she needed.

"I don't know if we'd be able to describe it to you effectively," Samira said.

"But I can draw it for you," Leia said, "I just need some paper and a pencil and I can sketch everything we saw out for you."

"Let's get back to the compound, then. The sooner we can find out what you saw, the sooner we can start building our defense plan."

Leia, Zuri, Gyyx, Ero, and Pyra started back down the side of the cliff to where the rest of the warriors were waiting for them. Ty held Samira back, waiting until the last of Pyra's Mohawk disappeared beneath the edge of the cliff to turn to her. He curled her up into his arms so that her chest pressed against his and her arms looped tightly around his waist. She rested her head against his chest for a brief moment and then looked at him, leaning back slightly so that he could see her entire face gazing up at his.

"I love you, Samira," he said softly.

A smile broke across her lips and he thought he saw the glimmer of tears in her dark eyes. She cuddled him a little closer, bringing her body forward so that as much of her pressed against him as possible.

"I love you, too, Ty."

His heart swelled and he felt his body getting hot again. The heat radiating off of his skin told him even more that he had definitely found his mate in Samira. That searing, glowing heat told all other females to stay away from him and gave both him and his mate even more reason to take off their clothes. She took her arms from around his waist and trailed her fingers down his arms, tracing the curves of his muscles with her fingertips. He could see her eyes getting smoky as she touched his skin, feeling the warmth on hers.

"I wish we didn't have to go with the warriors," he murmured to her.

She nodded, her long eyelashes dipping down over her eyes as she continued to touch him tenderly.

"I do, too. How long do you think that the meeting will be?" she purred back.

"I don't know. However long it takes for you three to tell us what you saw and for them to decide how we should move forward with the war."

The mention of war seemed to dampen the smoldering building inside her and she got a solemn look on her face.

"What's going to happen, Ty?"

Ty put his hands on her arms, gently squeezing her.

"Everything's going to be fine. I promise. The Denynso are the best warriors in the galaxy. Once we figure out how the Klimnu have been learning about us and getting into the compound so easily, the warriors will be able to defeat them."

"Why aren't you a warrior?"

The question stung him a little, but he had to remind himself that she wasn't familiar with their kind and didn't know how things worked with them. She wouldn't understand that it wasn't his choice what role he was going to play within the clan, or what skills he would have. From the little bit that he knew of Earth, he knew that each person had a choice of what they were going to do with their lives and what types of skills and abilities they were going to use throughout their lives. He figured that as strange as that seemed to him, it must seem strange to Samira that each of the Denynso were born to fulfill a certain role and meet their specific responsibilities so that the entire clan operated effectively.

"I wasn't meant to be," he answered.

He expected her to pry, to try to figure out more, or to criticize him for not being one of the powerful, fierce men who had a reputation throughout the galaxy. Instead, she smiled at him and got up on the tips of her toes to touch a kiss to his lips.

"We should probably catch up with everyone else before the think that we've been kidnapped. I don't think that they need any more stress in their battle planning."

Chapter Nine

I pondered what Ty had told me as we hurried across the plateau and down the side of the cliff. The rest of the group was already considerably ahead of us and we took off at a run to catch up with them. Even at my height, though, Ty's long legs created a stride with a length that far outdid mine, putting him several steps ahead of me within just a few seconds. I called up to him and he turned back to me. As soon as I caught up to him, he reached down and scooped me off of my feet, draping me over his shoulder so that he could carry me as he ran. I let out a scream, but it quickly turned into a laugh as I bounced along with my head at his waist level.

I was dizzy by the time we caught up to the rest of the group and he finally lowered me back to my feet. He held me stable for a few seconds so that I could get my wits about me again and then we started back toward the compound. Everyone was silent as we walked, each person lost in his own thoughts and absorbed in his own worries. I fought off the ominous feelings that fell over the group, trying to remain positive as we walked. I knew that what we found at the end of that tunnel was going to change everything, and I needed to find as much strength as I could in my positivity before we had to tell them about it.

When we made it back to the meeting hall, I noticed that everyone who had been in the main room was now gone. The long tables and benches were empty and there was a strange sense of tension in the air like the walls and floor themselves knew that something was about to happen and they were bracing themselves for it. One of the warriors rushed out of the room and came back a few moments later carrying several large sheets of parchment and a dark pencil. Leia sat at one of the tables and spread the materials out in front of her. She took a breath like she was preparing herself and stretched and wriggled her fingers. She had the look of an artist who had not drawn in quite a length of time and was trying to get herself back into that flow that allowed her to create.

She picked up the pencil and let the tip hover above the parchment.

"The tunnel was long and narrow," she described, starting the sketch, "It was only a couple of inches taller than Zuri and Samira, and tight enough that we had to walk single file."

"That means that Ullie was not the only one helping the Klimnu," Pyra said, leaning on his palms on the table so that he could watch as Leia drew.

I nodded and picked up where Leia had left off.

"What's strange about the tunnel is that we noticed we seemed to have gone much further than we should have. I called out to Ty, but he couldn't hear me. There's no reason why he shouldn't have been able to hear my voice when I was calling to him from what I thought was just a few dozen yards away. Especially with my voice coming through a tunnel like that, he should have been able to hear me for much longer. The same goes for when we were heading back. He wasn't able to hear me until we were almost at the mouth of the tunnel."

"What do you think that means?" Gyyx asked.

"We aren't sure. What we know is that we walked for a while and then everything seemed to feel different. The tunnel got cold and wet, and then we started feeling moving air."

Leia took the page where she had drawn the tunnel and set it aside, pulling a fresh sheet closer to her.

"Samira had us wait in the tunnel while she went ahead. After a few seconds we heard her calling for us. The tunnel took a sudden turn and when we came around it, the tunnel opened out into what looked like a jungle."

Leia started sketching, her hand moving feverishly across the paper as what we had seen in the subterranean jungle developed under the tip of her pencil. She drew out what had looked like massive trees hung heavily with thick, rope-like vines. The light produced by the torch seemed small once we were out of the tight tunnel and it only illuminated enough of the area to show that the tops of the trees seemed to connect with each other to create one thick, dark ceiling that overhung the entire area.

"How do the trees grow underground?" Pyra asked as we described the forest.

I shrugged.

"We don't know."

I kept describing the underground forest, letting Leia bring my words into visual reality on the page as she sketched the thick roots of the trees that spread through small sections of undergrowth. All around the trees was calm, deep-looking water. Though I couldn't see much of it, I knew that these surroundings didn't have the expansive feeling of being outside. We hadn't managed to go through a tunnel into an outdoor area of the planet. Instead, we were definitely in an underground chamber of the cave, contained within an area of indeterminate size.

"What else did you find?" Ty asked.

His voice sounded strained, like what we were telling him frightened him.

"We couldn't see much, but it looked like there were sections of the tree ceiling that were broken and there was a strange slime dripping from those areas. That's what started the torch going out; a big glob of it fell right on the flame. I got a little on my arm, too."

I held out my arm to show them where the goo had hit, and noticed that the skin was starting to redden. I touched it and it stung. Ty grabbed my arm and looked at the area.

"What's happening?"

I stared at my reddening skin and a memory suddenly popped into my mind. I turned to Zuri and held my arm out to her.

"Zuri, do you remember when you first got home and you had that section of your back that you said had been hurting? I looked at it and it was red and you said it stung when I touched it?"

Zuri nodded, reaching out toward my arm. I pulled it back sharply, shaking my head.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Is that where the Klimnu touched you while you were in the forest?"

I remembered what she had told me about the night that she ran from the meeting hall and ended up lost in the forest at the edge of the compound. A Klimnu had hung from one of the trees, dangling down to grab at her as she ran past. The experience had terrified her, but it had also apparently left a reaction on her skin.

"The Klimnu touched me more than I care to discuss while I was with them, though," Leia said, looking up from where she was sketching a droplet of the clear slime coming down from the trees, "And I never had a reaction like that."

"Maybe it is like an allergy. Some people react to it, and some people don't. I've never been near the Klimnu, so I don't know what they feel like, but you described them as slimy."

"Yeah, they're disgusting. They're like pale, slimy skeletons with long fingers and really disturbing eyes."

"Could this slime have something to do with that? Could some people be vulnerable to the slime and react really strongly to it, and other people be resistant to it?"

My mind was spinning as my research projects came pouring back to me and ideas started to form in my mind.

"What are you thinking, Samira?" Zuri asked.

She could recognize the look on my face as the one I always wore when things started to make sense to me. She had always been the one to nurture my curiosity and help me use my intelligence to work out solutions, form ideas, and discover new things through my research.

"I'm thinking that I need to get to Eden, Eliana, and Ciyrs."

Chapter Ten

Ty paced through the living room of his house, pausing every few steps to listen closely to see if he heard the door to his shop opening. It had been several hours since Samira and Zuri had run off with Pyra to Ciyrs's shop to tell them whatever it was that she had figured out. He had wanted to go along, but she told him that he should go home and get some rest, that it could be a while before she was finished. He knew that there wasn't really anything that he would be able to do to help, but he hated being away from her and not even knowing what was happening. A few times he thought about checking in with her telepathically, but he didn't know what she was doing and didn't want to risk distracting her at a critical moment and possibly ruining her work.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. Pacing around the house and worrying about her wasn't going to do anyone any good. If he was going to be a part of this war, he was going to have to start with being courageous enough to face the demons inside him and take control of the part of his destiny he had run from for so long.

Ty glanced toward the door one last time, and then looked around the room. He would have to start with something small, just to make sure that he could even do it anymore before he tried anything more impactful. His eyes fell on a small plant that sat on the table across the room. It was a bioluminescent fern he often used as illumination at night when he didn't want to access the solar energy collected from the panel on his roof and stored in a small cell that would allow him to do things throughout the home like turn on lights and heat water for a shower. It was nearly morning, but it was still dark enough that the vibrant blue glow of the plant stood out against the shadowy room.

He concentrated on the plant, allowing his thoughts to etch it in his mind. The longer he looked at it, the stronger the outline against his thoughts became until it seemed that everything else in his brain had gone completely black and all he could see was the glowing plant. When he had isolated it enough, he imagined his thoughts sending invisible ropes out of his mind and encircling the plant. He pulled with his mind and the plant trembled. Suddenly a scream in the back of his mind made the plant stop moving and he fell to his knees.

Ty gasped for breath, trying to stop the shaking of his body and hold back the sharp tears that stung his eyes. The scream had been a memory, an echo that he would never be able to forget. He had heard it so many times in the years since it had actually happened and each time it had pushed him further and further away from the power contained within him. So far that now it seemed he may no longer be able to harness it.

"Ty?"

He had been so shaken by the scream that he didn't even realize the door to his shop had opened and Samira stepped into the living room. He lifted his head and looked at her. She ran forward toward him and dropped to her knees on the floor at his side, wrapping an arm around his back and tilting her head down to look him in the face.

"Hi," he managed weakly.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Ty sat back on his heels and shook his head.

"I was trying to do something I haven't done in a long time. I was hoping that it might help the clan during the war, but I don’t think that I can do it anymore."

"Why?"

He looked at her for a long second. He had never told anyone about this before. No one knew what had happened or how it had impacted him as he grew up. Telling the story would be painful and make him more vulnerable than he had ever been, but if there was anyone in the world who he could be that vulnerable in front of and not feel afraid, it was his mate. As safe as he made her feel, she made him feel the same way and he was finally ready, for the first time in his life, to be completely honest.

"My father killed my mother," he said cautiously, gauging her reaction carefully.

"Intentionally?" she asked softly.

"No. He loved her with everything in him. He would never hurt her on purpose."

"What happened?"

Ty drew in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then let it out. This was a moment that could define his entire future, something that could truly end everything he had built for himself as he grew up and after his parents died. Samira looked back at him with wide, innocent eyes veiled with worry and genuine, deep love.

"My father had a skill that other Denynso don't. It is extremely rare. In fact, since his death, there has only been one other who has had it. One day he was using it and he lost control. My mother happened to be in the path and it killed her. He died less than a year later. Everyone thinks that he got sick, but I know that it was the heartbreak of being without her and the guilt of feeling like he caused her death that eventually just stole his will to live."

"I'm so sorry, Ty." Samira paused and brought her hand to his back to rub it gently, "Will you tell me something?"

Ty nodded.

"Are you the other Denynso with that skill? Is that what you were saying that you don't think you can do anymore?"

Ty nodded again, feeling the tears building in his eyes again.

"I haven't used it since my father died. Almost 20 years."

"Use it now," she said.

"What?"

"Use it now," she repeated matter-of-factly, "Show me."

She said it with such confidence, such absolute faith that he would be able to overcome this massive challenge; it gave him a surge of determination. Ty stood up again and brushed the tears away from his cheeks. Forcing the sound of the reverberating scream out of his mind, he turned his focus back to the plant. The sun was coming up now and the glow was not as strong, but he let his mind etch it against his thoughts again. The ropes of concentration shot out of his mind and coiled around the plant. He forced his focus to sharpen and in an instant the plant rose up off of the table and flew across the room into his outstretched hand.

Chapter Eleven

I gasped as I saw Ty's hand close around the pot that held a strange looking plant. His eyes snapped to me and I saw his lips twitch before a smile curved them. He let out a short laugh as if he was completely shocked that it had actually worked. I smiled back at him.

"That was incredible!"

He laughed again and looked around the room. A moment later a cushion lifted off the couch and sailed through the air at him. He tossed it at me and I batted it away. Suddenly he took off and ran up the stairs toward his bedroom. I was so startled by his sudden movement that I didn't have a chance to react before I felt a tug in my belly. I looked up at him standing at the top of the stairs and met his eyes. He gave me a mischievous smile and the ground disappeared from under feet. I squealed at the realization that he was carrying me toward him telekinetically, but I barely had time to be frightened before he opened his arms and caught me.

I felt his heart pounding against my chest and his erection pushing into my belly. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I leaned in and nipped at his neck, letting my teeth sink playfully into his skin. I followed the bite with a long draw of my tongue. Ty growled and grabbed my butt in both hands, digging his fingertips into me. He started toward the bed, but I pulled my head back to look at him.

"I am so gross from that tunnel."

He made a moaning sound in his throat and turned, carrying me down a short hallway toward a room I hadn't gone in the night before.

"I guess I'm just going to have to fix that for you," he said.

He lowered me to my feet and I saw that we were in a large bathroom. There was a sunken tub in the middle of the room and a series of marble shelves that looked like a small staircase along the wall beside the tub. Several bottles lined the shelves and I noticed what looked like a soft sponge on the edge closest to the tub.

Ty went to work undressing me, carefully and slowly removing each article of clothing and showering the newly exposed skin with gentle kisses. When I was completely naked, he turned on the faucet and took a bottle from the shelf. He drizzled some of the liquid from the bottle under the faucet and the tub filled with bubbles. They shimmered with an array of iridescent colors and a sweet, sultry smell rose to me. I inhaled deeply and felt his hand come to mine. He led me gently down into the tub and held my hand until I settled onto the seat along one side. I moaned as the warm water came up over my breasts and I closed my eyes, allowing my head to drop back against the side of the tub.

I could hear Ty undressing behind me and a moment later he stepped down into the tub with me. He bathed me silently, using the soft sponge to tenderly remove all of the grime I felt clinging to my skin from my time in the tunnel and then the hours I had spent in the shop with Cirys, Eden, and Eliana. When he was finished, he placed the sponge on the side of the tub and I felt him settle back so that he sat on the seat beside me. His hand touched my hip and I let the feeling guide me over to him and then up into his lap so that I faced him, straddling his hips.

My breasts brushed against his chest and I felt my breath deepen. The water made our bodies slick against each other, and the concealment of the bubbles increased my excitement as I moved my body against his to compensate for not being able to see it. Ty held me close to him, his head tucked into the curve of my neck and shoulder as one arm encircled my waist and the other hand explored my back and shoulders. His breath was labored as I felt the tip of his tongue touch my collarbone.

"Can I bring you into the bedroom now?" he whispered.

I shook my head.

"No."

"No?"

"Here."

I rolled my hips against him and felt him twitch. He lifted me enough to touch the tip of his erection to my opening and then eased me down until I settled into his lap, cradling him deep inside me. I clutched at his shoulders, whimpering at the intense, full feeling. When I opened my eyes again, he was staring at me, the glowing orange of his eyes seeming to burn into me.

"Tell me again," he said and I knew exactly what he wanted.

"I love you."

He lifted me slightly and thrust hard up into me.

"Tell me again," he growled.

"I love you," I gasped.

"Again."

"I love you."

Ty suddenly stood and lifted me off of his lap. In an instant I was on my hands and knees beside the tub. I cried out as Ty's tongue slid across me, slipping between my folds and concentrating on the throbbing swollen bud at my core. He repeated the action and I arched my back, sobbing at the incredible waves of pleasure he sent through me. Suddenly he knelt behind me and entered me again, pushing all the way inside me in one hard thrust. He buried his hand in my hair and I felt the other hand go to my hip to stabilize me as he pounded into me. I whimpered and moaned with each deep stroke, the intensity of the feelings making it difficult for me to hold myself up.

His hand left my hip and slipped around so that his fingers dipped between my thighs and almost instantly the sensations overwhelmed me. I screamed his name and pressed back against him, accepting one final hard thrust as I felt his cock throb and spill into me. He bent forward, his arm coming up around my waist to support me as he kissed the back of my shoulder and along my spine.

"I love you," he murmured into my skin, "I love you, I love you, I love you."

When we could move again, we got up and walked slowly into the bedroom, drying off with plush towels before slipping under the covers of the bed to sleep off the long, exhausting night. I lay on my side so that he could curl around me, fully enveloping me with his warm, soft skin. I held his hand and rested it over my heart, reveling in the synchronicity of our breath as we fell asleep.

Chapter Twelve

"Are you sure you have to go so soon?" Ty groaned from the bed.

"Yes," Samira called to him from the bathroom where she was collecting her clothes from the floor, "I have to go back to my house and change before people catch onto the fact that I've been wearing the same thing since the morning after I got here."

Ty chuckled.

"You aren't going to stay there tonight are you?" he asked.

She stepped into the room and smiled at him.

"If I have my way, I'll never stay there again."

Ty crawled to the end of the bed and rested his hands on her hips so he could pull her close and kiss her.

"I'll tell the king and queen that they can consider that house vacant."

She grinned and kissed him again, lingering on his lips for a few moments before pushing him away as his hands started to travel to her breasts.

"Not now, Big Boy. We have things to do."

The statement was meant playfully, but it fell hard in Ty's gut. They had only slept for a few hours because they knew that the rest of the clan would be making their preparations and that every moment mattered. Suddenly he realized he hadn't even gotten a chance to ask her about what had happened in Ciyrs' office the night before.

"Did you figure out the healing potion?" he asked, climbing out of bed and heading for his bureau.

Her face lit up.

"I think we are really close. I suggested that we integrate some of the slime into the potion kind of like on Earth when doctors use small amounts of germs and viruses to create vaccinations. It gives the body the opportunity to learn to fight off that particular infection. I thought that maybe if we put the slime into the potion, it could counteract injuries and trigger the warriors' bodies to fight harder, speeding up their healing and protecting them from further injuries and reactions."

"Wow. You really are incredibly brilliant."

She flashed him a huge smile.

"That's what they tell me. Get dressed while I run to my house and change. I'll meet you at Ciyrs' shop."

An hour later Ty was walking up to the shop when he heard shouting. He started running, fear flooding him. When he burst into the shop, however, he saw that everyone was grinning and hugging each other.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We think we figured out the healing potion," Ciyrs told him, "Thanks to your amazing mate, we are really ready for this showdown."

Ty crossed to Samira and kissed her.

"You are amazing," he agreed.

"What do we do now?" Pyra asked from where he stood against one wall, his hand rested protectively over Eden's belly.

The room fell quiet for a moment.

"We need to figure out who was helping Ullie," Samira said, "And I think that means going back to the tunnel."

"No," Ty said, "It was too dangerous the first time. You can't go again."

"We have to, Ty. There's no other way. I have been thinking about this a lot, and I am convinced that there is something about that tunnel that we don't know. It still doesn't make any sense that we only walked for what seemed like such a short time and then got so far away."

"Do you think there is some kind of portal or transporter in the tunnel?" Zuri asked.

"There might be. You said that the Klimnu have incredibly advanced technology on their original planet. What if they brought some of it here and put it in the tunnel so that they and whoever has been helping them can use it to get them to different areas of the planet more quickly?"

"If that underground forest that you found is some kind of Klimnu bunker, but they aren't the ones using the tunnel, how are they getting into it?"

Ty saw Samira's face get tense again like she was thinking through something complicated.

"I have a theory. It is outlandish, but it's all I have right now."

"Tell us."

Samira turned to Ty.

"Last night I had the warriors tell me everything about the Klimnu. What they are, where they come from, what they do, everything. Something that stood out to me was that they have the ability to look like something else when they want to confuse or manipulate people."

"That's right," Eliana said, "They did that to me."

"Me, too," said Leia.

"Me, too," said Eden.

Samira nodded at them.

"Zuri, I need you to show me exactly where you encountered that Klimnu. I can explain the rest once we get there."

The group left the shop and hurried toward the woods at the edge of the compound. When they got there, Samira looked around.

"Is this how you got to the prison that you burned down?" she asked.

The warriors confirmed that it was and Ty saw a smile starting to form on her lips.

"Look, Zuri. Look around you."

Zuri looked around for a few seconds and when her eyes dropped to the floor, Ty saw them grow wide.

"It's an inverse," she muttered.

Samira nodded.

"A reflection." She turned to Leia, "Leia, do you see it?"

Leia followed the same path with her eyes that Zuri did and suddenly a hand flew to her mouth.

"I don't understand," Ty said.

"Neither do I," Pyra added.

Samira gestured at the trees.

"These are the trees from the underground forest." She pointed to branches overhead and the patchy leaves, "Those are what we saw as roots with bits of undergrowth around them. What we thought was water was the sky. And this," she leaned down and touched the thick moss and undergrowth that covered that section of the forest floor, "This is what we saw as the leaves that created the ceiling."

"It's a reflection," Pyra repeated what the women had said and Samira nodded, "What you thought you were seeing was wrong, but you were seeing something that was really there."

"Yes."

"That means," Zuri said, crouching down to touch some of the moss. She ran her hand across it for a moment, and then suddenly pulled it back, "Ero, could you pull this up for me?"

"Pull up the moss?" Ero asked.

"It shouldn't be difficult. Grab this edge and pull."

Ero did as he was asked and as soon as he pulled on the edge of the moss, it peeled away from the ground, revealing a narrow gouge in the ground shining around the edges with thick, clear slime.

Chapter Thirteen

I gave a mirthless laugh as the deep hole in the ground came into view. It was all coming together in my mind and I was watching it unfold in front of me. The warriors tensed around me as they all started to understand what was going on.

"There will be holes like this all the way through the forest right up to where the prison was. That's how so many of them survived the fire. All they had to do was find one of these holes and drop down into the chamber."

"What about the tunnel, though?" Ty asked, "You were so wrapped up in feeling like it took you further than you thought. Did you feel like you walked this far?"

"Definitely not. The Klimnu definitely put a transporter in that tunnel that brought us from there all the way to here in between steps. But I don't think that it was meant to be used for getting the Klimnu from there to here or the other way around. If it was, you would have noticed them coming from that side of the compound."

"Why did they put it there?"

"I think it was for whoever was helping them along with Ullie. It had to be someone small enough to get through the tunnel easily and someone who would have access to another transporter that wouldn't be noticeable. Someone that no one would notice and no one would miss."

Suddenly Zuri's eyes widened.

"I know exactly who it was," she said, her voice sounding gravelly with fury, "Does anyone know what time it is?"

"Mid-afternoon," Ero told her.

"We don't have much time. Ero, I need you to get to the launch platform now. Don't let the shuttle leave."

Ero took off with such intensity that he was invisible within seconds.

"Do we all need to go?" Pyra asked.

"Two of you come with me to the launch platform. Some of you start finding as many of these holes as you can. The rest of you, find every warrior in the compound and get them to the meeting hall. Leia and Samira will meet you there and fill you in."

I watched as everyone dissipated to follow Zuri's instructions. Ty held my hand for a few lingering seconds and then gave it a squeeze.

"I'm going to help them find the holes," he said.

"No, we need you in the meeting hall."

"Why?"

"You said you wanted to fight. This is your chance."

We met eyes and without saying anything else, we started running toward the meeting hall. Soon I was stumbling over my own feet trying to keep up with him, and he swept me up to put me on his back so that he could carry me the rest of the way. I didn't know if I was ever going to get used to being carried around like a rag doll, but part of me loved feeling so small and having him take control like that.

By the time we got to the meeting hall, the main room was loud with the voices of all of the warriors of the clan except for those who were back in the woods finding all of the holes that led down into the forest chamber. Pyra hadn't bothered to go the stage on the other side of the room. Instead, he was standing in the middle of one of the long tables, staring down at the warriors.

"Listen to her!" he shouted, "All of you be quiet and listen to her!"

Finally the warriors quieted down and started to settle onto the benches. I saw Leia sitting at one of the tables, her illustration of the underground forest in front of her. She was adding labels to it, pointing out what we had realized each of the elements was.

"Ty?" Pyra said when he noticed him standing there beside me.

"I want to fight," Ty said.

"You aren't a warrior, Ty. You don't have to do this."

"I want to. I think that I could make a difference."

"Show him," I said to Ty.

"Show me what?" Pyra asked.

"I'm not sure," Ty said to me.

"This is your chance, Ty. You were born to do this. You have a gift unlike anyone else on this planet and you owe it to your father to embrace it."

"What is she talking about, Ty?" Pyra asked.

I saw Ty turn back to the warrior and then look over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed as I had seen them do earlier. An instant later a massive sword fell from the hooks holding it on the stone wall and shot forward, narrowly missing hitting Pyra. Ty snatched it out of the air and lowered it slowly to his side. The warrior's erupted in shouts and Pyra struggled to get control of them again.

Before he could respond, the doors to the meeting room swung open and I heard the scuffle of people entering. I turned around and felt my heart constrict painfully.

Chapter Fourteen

Ty turned toward the doors to the meeting hall and saw two warriors dragging a thrashing woman between them. Zuri came up behind them and he saw blood trickling down her chest from a large gash across the front of her shoulder. Ero walked beside her, his jaw twitching and his eyes wild with fury. The woman gripped between the warriors was small and plain. She wasn't pretty or interesting-looking like the human women who had come to call his planet home, and suddenly it struck him… she was unnoticeable.

Samira looked stricken beside him like she knew who the woman was.

"Who is that?" Ty asked.

"She was the flight attendant on our voyage from Earth. She mans all of the trips on the university shuttle."

"So she would have been the attendant when Eden, Eliana, and Leia came here, too?"

Samira nodded.

"This is who had been helping Ullie and the Klimnu," Zuri said with acid in her voice.

Pyra glared down at the woman, who stared definitely back at him.

"I don't understand," he said, "Who is this woman?"

"She has been posing as a flight attendant on all of the shuttles from Earth. She was getting information from us and bringing it back to Ullie and the Klimnu. That's how they knew that Leia was coming and were able to intercept the flight and kidnap her. The transporter in the middle of the tunnel wasn't to get her from the cliffs to the underground chamber. It was to get her from the ship to the tunnel. That's why she disappeared into her quarters as soon as the ship landed, and why she told us that she never got off in between voyages. She has a transporter in her quarters that brought her directly into the tunnel so that she was never seen moving in or out. That meant she could meet Ullie at the mouth of the tunnel and collect materials to bring to the Klimnu and go through the transporter again to the get to the chamber, or she could go directly to the chamber."

"Why would you help them?" Leia shouted at her, "How could you help such vile creatures?"

The flight attendant scoffed.

"You consider the Klimnu the vile creatures? My grandmother came here when she was young. She was one of the first human visitors to ever step foot on this planet. I bet if you asked the king and queen, though, they wouldn't even admit that she was ever here."

"Your grandmother?" Zuri spat, stepping around to look at the attendant, "You told me that she said humans should never leave Earth and that you should always keep to your own kind; that she didn't even know what you were doing for a living."

"She doesn't know what I do, and she does believe that humans should keep to their own kind. That belief comes from her brief time here. When I was younger she told me stories about how vicious and violent the Denynso men were. She told me that they were all cruel and insatiable. They would just as soon slit your throat as they would bed you. She fell in love with one of the warriors who was here at the time, but as soon as he was finished with her, he had the king and queen rescind her permissions to be here and sent her back. She has never recovered and we all watched her suffer and were limited for our entire lives because of it."

"You can't blame our entire species on the fact that your grandmother fell in love with a warrior who wasn't her mate. There are very clear warnings before any humans come to Uoria," Pyra told her, "There have been since the very first visitor. One of the reasons we limit how long humans can stay here, especially human women, is because of situations like that. We are a warrior race. It is who we are. Your grandmother knew that before she ever stepped foot here, and if she let a warrior bed her knowing that he wasn't her mate, she can only hold herself responsible."

"Bring her back to the shuttle and lock her in the pod. Make it very clear that she is never to come near this planet again and that if she does, we cannot be held responsible for our actions."

The warriors turned and dragged the woman out of the meeting hall. As soon as they were gone, Samira ran from Ty's side over to Zuri.

"Are you alright?" she asked, touching the gash on her chest.

"You left Pyra's knife in the tunnel," she said, "Guess who found it?"

"Oh, god. I am so sorry, Zuri."

"It's alright. The warriors were a little resistant to taking her into custody until they saw her swinging at me with it. A little blood is worth getting her off of the planet and away from us."

"We need to get you to Ciyrs."

"What are we going to do about the Klimnu?"

Everyone turned to look at Pyra. His shoulders were square and his Mohawk seemed to have gotten taller and sharper. Ty knew his body was preparing for war.

Chapter Fifteen

"I'm not staying here, Ty," I said, following Ty to the door to the meeting hall.

"Yes, you are. You and the other women are going to stay here where you'll be safe while we go take care of the Klimnu."

"If it wasn't for us you would have no idea how they were getting into the compound."

"And we appreciate that, Samira, but the Klimnu are vicious, horrible creatures. I am not letting my mate be in harm's way. I'll be back soon enough and we'll go home, together, and start our life."

I loved the way that sounded, but I hated that after everything we did to help them, the warriors were just going to leave us women behind so that we could sit around and be worried about them, feeling useless.

"Ty," I started to protest again, but he shook his head.

"No, Samira. You aren't coming with me. You have to stay here and look after Zuri and Eden. We know what we're doing."

He kissed me a final time and joined the warriors standing at the door. They all looked so powerful standing there. Their bodies had changed with the coming war, giving off even more of the intense, animalistic impression that already made them so intimidating. Pyra opened the door and they marched out, slamming the door behind them. The meeting hall fell silent. All of the other women were sitting along one of the benches, but I couldn't sit. I paced around in front of them for a few minutes, tormented by the thought of Ty and the other men marching off into such incredible danger and us just sitting here.

I knew that they had planned out their attack carefully. It was designed perfectly, but I was still terrified for them. It was not enough for me to sit and wait and hope that what they had come up with would actually work. Finally I stalked across the room to one of the wall sconces that held torches and pulled one down.

"What are you doing?" Zuri asked, standing up.

She had a bandage covering the wound on her chest, the sweet smell of the healing potion Ciyrs had finally perfected seeping through it toward me.

"I can't just sit here. That's my mate out there, and my new home. We started this for them, and I'm not going to let them finish it alone."

I started toward the door and heard footsteps coming after me.

"I'm coming with you."

I turned around and saw Eliana close behind me. I knew of the incredible power that she shared with her mate and that it could be an intense force against the Klimnu. I nodded and looked back at the other women.

"Zuri and Eden, neither of you can come in your conditions. Leia, I'm trusting you to take care of them and make sure that the potion is ready for when the warriors come back. Eden can help you apply it. Stay connected with your mates as much as possible, but don't let them know you're worried. You don't want to distract them. If anything happens, Eliana will connect with Eden."

Eliana grabbed another torch and we rushed out of the meeting hall in the direction of the cliffs. She knew the land better than I did and I let her lead. The darkness had built around the planet and the feeling of impending battle hung heavy over the compound. I ducked my head and continued to run. The fear dissipated as we reached the cliff. I knew that I had faced my own share of battles before and I had come out alive even though then I had little to live for. Now I had everything to live for and I was either going to save it, or die trying.

We climbed the cliff carefully and headed through the chamber into the tunnel. Now that we knew that the transporter was somewhere in the middle, we stayed as close to each other as possible. We didn't want to risk one of us transporting and the other one not. The steepness of the tunnel and the haste in my motivation made my steps fast and for a moment I felt like I was falling. I regained my control and we pushed our way through the tight passage, me guiding her since she had not been with us during the first trip down to the chamber.

"When you start to feel moving air," I whispered to her, "blow out your torch. We don’t want to call attention to ourselves."

"Are you sure that the way they planned it out is going to work?" she asked.

"I have to be," I said.

A few more steps and I felt the movement of air against my cheek. We simultaneously blew out our torches, reaching down to hold hands so that we could stay together in the darkness.

"Be very careful where you step," I told her, "Remember that what looks like water is actually the sky. You don't want to fall into it. Stay on the branches."

We continued forward and suddenly saw flickers of light ahead of us. I pressed myself to the wall of the tunnel and glanced around the corner at the underground forest. Just as Pyra had expected, the entire chamber crawled with slimy, skeletal creatures. Some climbed on the trees, others dangled from the vines, and still others lounged between the branches that looked like roots traversing the ground. One stood on a particularly large branch, releasing small illuminated balls onto the ground so that they floated through the space and filled it with a soft light.

"How much longer?" Eliana whispered.

I brought a finger to my lips to quiet her. There was a slight cracking sound and a few of the Klimnu looked up toward the ceiling. There was another slight sound, and then another. Suddenly the entire space filled with loud, soul-shaking screams as the Denynso warriors dropped down through the holes they had found and enlarged earlier in the day.

The Klimnu scrambled, caught completely off guard by the warriors using their own tactic against them. Following Pyra's instructions, they clung to the trees, wrapping their muscled arms through the hanging vines to keep them from falling into the reflection of the sky. None of us knew what would happen if someone was to fall. It seemed that it would be like shooting directly up into the sky, and none of the warriors wanted to test the theory.

Chaos ensued quickly. I watched the Klimu thrash at the warriors, biting and clawing at them, and crawling up onto each other so that they could better access the men staying close to the trees. I watched as three of the warriors wrapped both arms in the vines and used their powerful upper bodies to pull themselves up so that they were suspended between two trees, enabling them to kick at the Klimnu that approached. The hard hits sent the creatures flying backwards. One skidded across the branches and slipped into the sky, disappearing completely. I heard nothing and there was a moment of intense realization among to warriors.

Suddenly Eliana surged forward. I saw her run toward a Klimnu climbing up the side of a tree toward Pyra and grab it by its neck. The disgusting creature's scream reverberated through the space and I nearly gagged on the scent of burning flesh and ash. In only a few seconds, the Klimnu she held disintegrated into a pile of ash. Inspired by her courage, I left my place in the tunnel and started forward. Before I could even step off of the small section of land in front of the tunnel and onto one of the branches, though, one of the Klimnu dropped down in front of me.

His eyes rolled as he licked his lips and clicked his long claws together. I saw his fangs dripping with saliva and felt my stomach flip. He reached for me, and I let out a scream. I knew that Ty would recognize it immediately.

"Samira!" I heard him yell.

"Ty," I screamed back, "Get me."

I felt the tug in my belly and let go of my control of my body. My feet left the ground and as I rose above the creature who had been threatening me, I planted a kick in the middle of his face, tossing him back into the sky. I continued to kick as I flew toward Ty, managing to knock a few more of the creatures out of their paths toward the warriors. When I reached Ty, he pulled me against him and instructed me to hold onto one of the hanging vines. He pointed out a branch that started just a couple of feet beneath us.

"Jump onto that branch. Keep holding onto the vine for stability, and just swing onto it. Stay there."

I did as he asked, closing my eyes as I held tightly to the vine and jumped. I hit the branch and immediately tangled a vine around my legs to hold me more securely in place. The smell of burning flesh had gotten nearly overwhelming and all around me I could hear the screams of the Klimnu and the men as they clashed. Ty used his mind to lift the creatures and toss them out of the way, Ero ran with such incredible speed that he was able to run from branch to branch across the sky without sinking, Pyra literally snapped and tore the creatures to pieces with his bare hands.

"Jem, no!"

Ty's sudden, tormented scream brought a lull to the battle. I looked around and realized that there were only a few Klimnu left. A warrior stood far out on one of the branches, locked in a struggle with one of the larger of the creatures. Two more had abandoned their previous goals and were now creeping toward the warrior, determined to take a Denynso life. Jem turned to land a solid punch in the middle of one of the creature's faces and knock him off balance. He started to fall, and then grabbed onto Jem's shirt to regain his balance. I looked up and could see Ty struggling to pick him up.

Jem rose a few feet off of the branch, but the Klimnu tugged at him. Pyra rushed down the tree toward them, but Jem held up a hand.

"Stop, Pyra. Don't come out here. You're what they want. Remember, they are trying to get to Criea. If they kill our leader, they weaken our defenses and they can get to the king. There's only one way to stop them, and that is to eliminate them."

Jem thrashed for a few moments, nearly working his way back down to the branch. The creatures tugged him.

"Let me pick you up!" Ty screamed.

"No! Put me down. I'll be fine. These are the last of their kind here and there is something about me that they don't know."

One of the creatures scoffed and reached out a hand to claw Jem's face.

"And what is that?" he asked mockingly.

Jem smiled up at all of the warriors.

"I've always wanted to fly."

The warrior wrapped his arms around the three Klimnu and launched himself backwards off of the branch, disappearing into the darkness of the sky. Eliana screamed and I heard Ty cry out the warrior's name. He disentangled himself from the vine and started down the tree toward where Jem had fallen. I reached out and grabbed him by his shirt.

"Stop, Ty."

"I let him die! He was right there."

"Stop. He did what he wanted to do. It's alright. He's among the stars now."

Chapter Sixteen

Ty leaned down and pulled Samira out of the hole in the forest floor. Around them the rest of the warriors were emerging from the moss and taking deep, long breaths of the night air. It was the first night in as long as any of them could remember where no one had to be afraid.

"If that sky was a reflection," he asked, looking up into the sky above them, "That means it was just as much an illusion as the Klimnu were able to make themselves."

"Yes."

"Then where is Jem? If that wasn't the real sky, where did he go?"

Samira wrapped an arm around Ty's waist and hugged him close, knowing that it was him that needed her strength now.

"I don’t know, baby. Wherever he is, though, he saved Uoria."

They walked slowly back to the meeting hall, many nursing wounds, but all alive. Jem was the only one they had lost. When they got inside the hall, Ciyrs, Eliana, Leia, and Eden immediately went to work patching up injuries with the healing potions they had created. Samira had instructed them on how to create several different types of ointments so that they could handle a variety of injuries quickly and effectively without having to go through the challenging and emotionally charged process of healing.

Samira and Ty stepped back and watched everything happening, the entire scene surreal and overwhelming. They watched the moments unfolding in front of her as if they were a series of postcards flashing past her eyes, or individual cells from a movie suddenly coming to life, each contained within its own crystalline second of existence.

Gyyx and Leia kissed in a corner, the tremendous warrior holding his tiny mate off of the ground so that he didn't have to lean down to her.

Eliana and Cirys exchanged meaningful glances as they worked with the warriors, occasionally pausing between patients to touch each other's cheeks or nuzzle noses.

Ero and Zuri sat on one of the benches facing each other, his legs straddling the bench and hers wrapped around his hips as they rested their foreheads against each other's and murmured unheard sentiments.

Pyra was on his knees in front of Eden, his arms wrapped tightly around her hips and his mouth pressing to her belly over and over again as she stroked the back of his head and wiped tears from under her eyes.

Each moment was singular and perfect. The couples existed only for each other right then and it didn't matter what else was going on around them. Ty felt a surge of nearly overwhelming love for Samira and turned to face her.

"I don't know how to do this," he said and she looked at him with worry in her eyes.

"Do what?" she asked.

Ty reached up to tuck a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear and brush his fingertips across her cheekbone.

"Marry me, Samira."

She looked startled and then a veil of confusion fell over her eyes.

"What?"

"Marry me."

"You said that Denynso don't get married."

"We don't, but humans also don't live on Uoria, and as you might have noticed, that tradition hasn't held up well in the last few months either."

"Do you even understand what marriage is?"

"Not entirely, but you can teach me. I know that it is to humans what our bonding is to us."

"Well, as close as it comes. It's about making promises to each other and standing up in front of everyone that you care about and making public vows committing yourselves to each other."

"We can do that."

"You don't have to do this, Ty. I know that we are mated. That's enough for me."

"I know I don't have to, I want to. I want to give you the experience that you would have had if you had ended up with a human man. I want to know that your commitment to me means the same to you."

"It means more to me, Ty. I love you with everything I have and I am fully and completely committed to spending my life here with you."

"Do you have friends on Earth? A family?"

"A few, I suppose. My mother is there. Though I rarely see her. She hides from my stepfather even more than I do."

"Wouldn't you want them to see you get married? We don't celebrate bonding here. It is a very personal experience, as you know." She smiled and glanced away briefly, "But I think that there is nothing in this galaxy worth celebrating more than what I found with you. I waited for you for my entire life and I know that I resisted you at first, but that only makes me love you all the more because I was so close to pushing you away. I could have lost you forever and I would have spent the rest of my life alone and longing for you rather than spending each moment treasuring you. So, please, Samira. Bring me back to Earth and marry me."

"Then we'll come back to Uoria?"

"Of course."

Ty watched her eyes and saw them sparkle. A smile broke across her lips and she jumped forward into his arms.

"Yes. Yes, I will marry you." She pulled back and looked him in the face again, "Thank you, Ty."

The moment between them broke as a hush fell over the meeting hall. They turned their attention to the opposite side of the room where the king and queen were entering. Creia climbed onto the stage and reached down to help Theia up, leaning forward to touch a kiss to her fingers that he held as she settled into place beside him. He looked out over the crowd and one by one the warriors approached, standing three deep and several across in front of him. They lowered to their knees and bowed their heads to the king, who reached over them with one hand. Ty left Samira's side and joined them, taking his place at the back of the group, now both a warrior and a nurturer.

"I have never been more proud that I am tonight to be the king of this great tribe," Creia said, his voice low with emotion. "Tonight, these men," he turned to look directly at Samira, "and women, put their lives at risk to protect our compound, our people, and our future. We lost one of our warriors. Though he was just one of our great numbers, his life was not inconsequential. We will miss him in everything that we do, and remember his sacrifice for generations to come. Even he, though, would not want this night to be about sadness. We will mourn for our Jem tomorrow. Tonight is a night of celebration."

A cheer rose up from the crowd and the warriors climbed to their feet. Ty rushed forward to the king and queen, calling to Samira in his mind for her to join him. As soon as she was by his side, he stepped close to the edge of the stage.

"Sir," he said, and the king turned to face him.

His face lit up and he reached out to touch Ty's hand, crouching down at the edge of the stage.

"I heard magnificent things about you, Ty. I am so proud of you, and your father would be, too."

Ty felt emotion burning in his throat and nodded his acknowledgment.

"Thank you. I come to you with an official request."

"What can I do for you?"

"I need permission traveling to Earth along with a few of the warriors and the human women."

"Is everything alright?"

Ty turned and smiled at Samira.

"We're getting married."

There was a high-pitched scream behind them and Ty whirled around to see Eden standing just a few feet away, one hand clutching her belly and the other covering her mouth. Pyra ran to her side and wrapped his arm around her.

"Eden? What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

Eden shook her head rapidly and pointed at Ty and Samira.

"They're getting married!"

A ripple of whispers and exclamations rolled back through the room and Ty could pinpoint when each of the human women heard the news. While most of the Denynso didn't even know what the word "married" meant and were questioning the entire concept, each of the human women let out a delighted scream.

"You want to get married?" the king asked.

"I am the only one of my kind to have my power, I might as well be the first of my kind to get married." He chuckled, but then his face grew serious, "With everything that Samira has done for me, there will never be enough ways that I can show her how much I love her. This is just one more way that I can try. You want to promote understanding and cooperation with the humans. Since so many of them have found their way to us, don't you think it's time that we learn about their customs as well?"

"I do," Eliana said and the other human women laughed.

"You have my absolute permission and admiration," Creia said and stood so that he could go back to his wife.

Ty turned and kissed Samira. Behind him he could hear the other human women talking to their mates. He laughed against Samira's mouth. He had a feeling his was not going to be the only wedding the Denynso saw. He turned and saw Pyra nod, then reach down and rub Eden's belly again. Ty smiled. There was so much waiting for them in the future. Now with Samira's hand in his, the threat of the Klimnu gone, and the demons from his past no longer tormenting him, Ty finally felt ready to face each moment and discover what lay just ahead.

( The End )

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